Subhash K Jha (DNA; September 19, 2017)

Love Sonia, the hard-hitting film on child trafficking starring Mrunal Thakur, Manoj Bajpayee, Richa Chadha, Rajkummar Rao and Freida Pinto has been asked to remove all the English and Hindi cuss words and abuses. Scenes of sexual abuse have also been reduced drastically.

More than 45 cuts were ordered, only then the film was granted an ‘A’ certificate. Whatever happened to the Central Board Of Film Certification’s claims that films with an ‘A’ certificate won’t require any cuts, especially when the movie deals with a socially-relevant subject?

Director Tabrez Noorani waited 12 years to make Love Sonia. “I’ve researched, visited brothels, even rescued sex workers from the flesh trade with the help of NGOs. This is the film I’ve always wanted to direct,” he reveals.

Tabrez feels not much justice has been done to the theme of human trafficking in cinema. “The only significant film I’ve seen on human trafficking is Lukas Moodysson’s Lilya 4-ever. Otherwise, Indian films on the theme like Nagesh Kukunoor’s Lakshmi and Pradeep Sarkar’s Mardaani do not have the bandwidth to make a broad impact.”