Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif starrer Bharat, directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, is just a few days from its release on Eid, June 5. And as expected, the makers are busy giving a final touch to the project. In fact, the film procured a UA certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) last week. Although the Censor Board did not suggest any cuts to Bharat, a report in a leading daily mentioned that Ali and Salman made 24 voluntary cuts in the partition drama after submitting the original version to the Censor Board due to their concern that its runtime of three hours was too long for its own good.

The daily quoted a trade source as saying, "The original duration of Bharat was three hours and the makers felt that the story needed to be tighter. To get a second opinion, they arranged a special screening for friends and family members, including Salim Khan, three weeks ago. While they appreciated the movie, Salim ji pointed out that the duration should ideally be brought down to under 165 minutes." It was then that Ali and Salman decided to chop off shots from the songs, Aethey Aa, Chashni and Turpeya, as well as a scene featuring Khan and his on-screen friend Sunil Grover. Reportedly, the runtime of Bharat now stands at 155 minutes.

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— Salman Khan (@BeingSalmanKhan) May 31, 2019

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Ali further confirmed to the daily that he has indeed cuts to the film although he cited good old excuse of CBFC's guidelines as the reason. "Since one needs to submit their films well in advance to meet the Censor Board's deadlines, it's better to provide the longer cut first. So, we submitted the work-in-progress version to them. Once they cleared it, we made the final edit, and then informed them of the cuts we have made," he was quoted as saying.

Bharat is an adaptation of the Korean film An Ode To My Father. Apart from Salman and Katrina, it also stars Disha Patani, Nora Fatehi, Tabu and Jackie Shroff in vital roles.

(Source: Mid-Day)