Madhur Bhandarkar, who has been asked by the censor board to remove words like RSS and Akali from his film Indu Sarkar, says that he doesn't wish to make the changes as he fears the essence of the film will get affected.

Bhandarkar had screened the film on the 1975-77 Emergency for the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) committee on Monday. They suggested 12 cuts and two disclaimers, leaving the filmmaker appalled.

Asked about his next move, Bhandarkar told IANS, "I don't want to change anything since it will affect the essence of my film. We will go to the Revising Committee first. Hope it gets cleared there. If not, we will have no option but to go to the Tribunal."

They have also been asked to do away with dialogues such as "Bharat ki ek beti ne desh ko bandi banaya hua hai", "Aur tum log zindagi bhar maa-bete ki gulami karte rahoge", "Main toh 70 saal ka buddha hoon, meri nasbandi kyun karwa rahe ho?" and "Ab iss desh mein Gandhi ke mayane badal chuke hai," shared the film's makers.

The makers of Indu Sarkar have been asked to remove the Indian Herald newspaper cutting that mentions leaders' names like Atal Behari Vajpayee, Morarji Desai and Lal Krishna Advani during 1975. In addition to that, the words that have been ordered to be removed from Indu Sarkar include Kishore Kumar, IB, PM Section Officer, RSS, Akali, Communist, Jayprakash Narayan.

Is imposing such cuts a reflection of the CBFC's political views?

"You should ask them that," said the National-Award winning filmmaker.

Starring Neil Nitin Mukesh, Kirti Kulhari, Supriya Vinod, Anupam Kher and Tota Roy Chowdhury, Indu Sarkar has characters inspired by the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi.

The forthcoming film has already drawn the ire of the Congress party. Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam had last week penned a letter to CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani, asking for the movie to be screened for them before it is censored.

It has also been attacked by Priya Singh Paul, a woman who claims to be Sanjay Gandhi's daughter.

Bhandarkar had earlier said, "I have no agenda to promote any specific political ideology. The film is showing the conflicts of two different ideologies on the Emergency."

Earlier, CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani had said that no NOC was required from the Congress before passing Indu Sarkar.

Nihalani said, "I saw Madhur's trailer, and I want to congratulate him for blowing the lid off one of the most shameful chapters of Indian politics. This was a time when the nation was put in the most embarrassing spotlight in the global arena. Many of our biggest leaders had to go to jail during the Emergency. Indian people's morale had hit rock-bottom."

"Indu Sarkar does not name anyone. There is no mention of Mrs Indira Gandhi or Sanjay Gandhi or anyone else in the trailer. You are only presuming the film is about the people you mention because of the physical resemblance," Nihalani said.

"I didn't hear anyone's name mentioned in the trailer. If they are mentioned in the film, we'll see. At the moment, I am glad someone has made a film on the Emergency. It is a 'kaala dhabba' (black spot) in our political history," added the CBFC chief.

Indu Sarkar is set to release on July 28.

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