Rangoon, CBFC
Saif Ali Khan, Kangana Ranaut, Shahid Kapoor in RangoonPR Handout

Vishal Bhardwaj's Rangoon failed to see a good run at the box office. And now, it has ended up in legal trouble. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is set to take legal action against the makers for playing the movie in theatres without the censor certificate and also, without the anti-smoking short films.

Also read: Check out Vishal Bhardwaj's next project after Rangoon

Starring Shahid Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut and Saif Ali Khan, Rangoon has failed at the box office and now CBFC looks to give a hard time to the film makers. "It has been brought to our notice that Rangoon has been playing in theatres across the country and outside India without the censor certificate and without the anti-smoking short films, which are compulsory for all films that show actors smoking and/or drinking," CBFC's chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani told DNA.

"Rangoon had many scenes showing the main leads indulging in serious substance abuse. We asked the makers to put a disclaimer ahead of the opening credits. That disclaimer has gone missing. Now, we have been informed that the anti-smoking films do not play at the beginning and after the intermission. And also that the censor certificate is not flashed at the start, as per law. These are serious offences," he added.

Pahlaj added that they will take legal action against the digital operators. "If the anti-smoking films have been removed from the beginning and after intermission and if the censor certificate is not being shown in Rangoon, then, the digital operators are screening less footage than what has been approved by the CBFC. It is a serious offence. We are investigating to see how deep the offence goes," CBFC's chairperson further added.

Well, this is not the first time director Vishal has gone ahead and removed the usual anti-smoking films, which are mandatory to be shown twice. He had removed these films from his 2012 release Matroo Ki Bijlee ka Mandola. To this, Pahlaj said: "Maybe some self-appointed intellectuals of our film industry feel it is okay to break the law as long as they can ridicule the jurisdiction of the CBFC."