Kangana Ranaut and Rajkummar Rao’s Mental Hai Kya will now release as Judgementall Hai Kya on July 26, 2019.
Kangana Ranaut and Rajkummar Rao’s Mental Hai Kya will now release as Judgementall Hai Kya on July 26, 2019. Judgementall Hai Kya is a dark comedy-drama directed by Prakash Kovelamudi.
A spokesperson of Balaji Motion Pictures says, “Given the sensitivity attached to the issue of mental health and our intention of not offending or hurting anyone’s sentiments, the makers have decided to change the title of the film Mental Hai Kya to ‘Judgementall Hai Kya’. Both Kangana and Rajkummar have outdone themselves in this thriller and we can’t wait for audiences to witness it on the big screen.”
The Ekta Kapoor produced project came under the radar amid allegations by the Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) that the earlier title, Mental Hai Kya, trivialised mental health issues. In a letter addressed to CBFC chairperson Prasoon Joshi, the IPS had objected to the title of the movie and said it was “discriminative, stigmatising, degrading and inhuman in projecting mental disorders and persons who suffer from mental disorders.”
Kangana Ranaut also gave her two pence on the subject and said, “We had a trailer launch scheduled for last week. The trailer went for certification a few days before that and we got to know that there are several case and legal notices from All India Psychiatry department. We are happy to get the changes made because it’s a government body and it needs to be respected. They absolutely loved the film and there were no cuts in the film. The only thing they asked for was to never use to word ‘mental’. Since last year, there were a few specific words that the Board has deemed problematic. Words like Pagla, Paagal must be avoided. Now, it’s different from what it was earlier. We have made this film very responsibly and there’s nothing derogatory about it. Even the Censor Board watched the whole film and felt the same. The problem was only the title and it’s just a few weeks before the release. We had to figure a new title, get it registered and then get a certificate. So this was a long procedure. It took a week to ten days so the only thing we feel bad about is the delay it has caused.”
“My character’s name is Bobby Grewal Batliwala so we thought of calling the film by my character name. Then, there was one called Bobby Mental Hai Kya. The title should also give out the nature of the film. And it’s a tedious process to get the title. We had a few other suggestions like Sentimental Hai Kya which came up. Ekta (Kapoor) didn’t feel it sounded nice or aligned with our theme. We needed to show a condition and this wasn’t doing justice. Then someone even thought we can call it just Bobby. But RK Films already own rights to it and we couldn’t get it. Things were getting complicated and I was like let’s go with whatever sails our boat because we had already shifted three release dates and I didn’t want to delay it any further. All the other big days are completely choc-a-bloc. Then, Judgementall Hai Kya happened and even the Censor was happy with it. They also agreed that it went nicely with the concept of our film which is aimed at the prejudices and the ways we judge people who behave differently. There were a few from the team who had an objection to Judgementall Hai Kya because they felt it wasn’t doing justice to what we want to show. They felt we are compromising on our film. But they were very few in number so they were in the minority. So, it is now what it is. We are going ahead with this,” added the actor.
Now the film’s team has decided to mute the word ‘mental’ and release the film with a change in their title.
The film’s producer Ekta Kapoor had earlier stated that her film is sensitive to mental health issues and that the film encourages the audience to “embrace their individuality”.
With a few minor changes, the Central Board of Certification has cleared the film with U/A certificate.
The spokesperson added, “CBFC has cleared the film with U/A certification with minor changes, which the makers are happy to comply with. With the CBFC clearance, the film is all set to release on July 26, 2019”.