Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: How Censor Board Was Gracious and Yet Bizarre With Its Cuts for Quentin Tarantino’s Brad Pitt-Leonardo DiCaprio Starrer
Once Upon A Time in Hollywood is Quentin Tarantino's ninth feature-length project and brings together Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt for the very first time. The movie also stars Margot Robbie
As Once Upon A Time in Hollywood was nearing its release date in India, there was a sense of trepidation among the Indian fans of Quentin Tarantino. The reason? How the film would fare in front of the scissors of the Indian Censor Board. Usually, movies with sexual content, abusive language and gratuitous violence are often looked down by the Board, or as its official name goes, Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). It doesn't matter if your movie gets an A rating that, by definition, should allow mature content. Just see what happened to the Deadpool series. Or how the Censor Board cut down a particularly violent scene on John Wick 3: Parabellum.
Which is why we were concerned with how Quentin Tarantino's latest movie will fare with the Board. The movie has been passed by the CBFC with an expected 'A' rating. Once Upon A Time in Hollywood doesn't have any nudity, but it has violent, brutal scenes and plenty of cuss words. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Movie Review: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt Indulge in a Zany Bromance in Quentin Tarantino’s Darkly Delightful Ode to Cinema.
We got the opportunity to watch the film in a special screening on August 12, and were relieved to see that the violence has not been diluted, especially in the climax of the film. Kudos for the Censor Board to have a mature stand on this!
That said, the language has been strangely edited. The F-bombs have been spared, but cuss words like 'a$$' and 'd**k' have been muted. While these mutings don't ruin your viewing pleasure, the strange selection is making us curious about why an 'a$$' would bother the Board, and not the F-word.
Once Upon A Time in Hollywood is Quentin Tarantino's ninth feature-length project and brings together Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt for the very first time. The movie also stars Margot Robbie, while popular actors like Al Pacino, Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning, Emile Hirsch, Bruce Dern, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, the late Luke Perry, Mike Moh, Michael Madsen appear either in supporting roles or in cameos. The movie is based on the Hollywood of '60s and references to the murder of actress Sharon Tate and her friends by Charlie Manson and his cult.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 13, 2019 04:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).