Mishra Not Pleased With A-certificate For 'Tera Kya Hoga Johnny'

Filmmaker Sudhir Mishra is upset that his forthcoming film “Tera Kya Hoga Johnny” has been given an ‘A’ certificate that entitles only adults to view the film. Nevertheless, he feels it is better than altering his storytelling to please the censors.

“Tera Kya Hoga Johnny” traces the psyche of individuals trapped in extreme circumstances with four short stories based in the murky lanes of Mumbai.

“This is a film that everyone should watch. What is shown in the film is a hundred times milder than what actually happens on the streets of Mumbai. We wanted this film to reach a wider audience and make them aware of an aspect of Mumbai that they ignore or don’t even know about. But I’d rather go with the adult certificate than compromise on the storytelling,” said Mishra.

The censor board is believed to have objected to a scene where a cop is shown making sexual advances to a boy. Mishra was also asked to snip off some expletives if he wanted a U/A certificate for the film. Apparently, the censors also objected to certain shots where people were shown trading in and consuming cocaine.

But Mishra wasn’t ready to compromise on his creative freedom.

“All these scenes are key to the very essence of the film and to the characters being portrayed. So making any of the changes would have meant changing what I was trying to convey in the first place,” he said.

The film, featuring debutant Sikandar Agarwal, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Shahana Goswami, Kay Kay Menon, Soha Ali Khan, among others, was scheduled to release Friday, but has now been delayed until Dec 31.

Tera Kya Hoga Jhonny Movie Preview

After exploring Mumbai in “Dharavi”, “Is Raat Ki Subah Nahi” and “Chameli”, director Sudhir Mishra is set to take audiences through the murky lanes of the western metropolis again in his dark thriller “Tera Kya Hoga Johnny”, which is releasing Friday.

The film explores the psyche of individuals trapped in extreme circumstances with four short stories.

Set in a time when people are trying to turn Mumbai into another Shanghai, “Tera Kya Hoga…” stars debutant Sikandar Agarwal in the lead. Neil Nitin Mukesh, Soha Ali Khan, Karan Nath, Kay Kay Menon and Shahana Goswami also form the cast of the movie along with filmmakers Anurag Kashyap and Aditya Bhattacharya.

Produced by Tutu Sharma and Manu Kumaran of Medient Production, the thrilling drama has been written by Sudhir Mishra who has given new meanings to emotions like greed, love, betrayal and hope in his script.

“Tera Kya Hoga Johnny” is Mishra’s first release after “Khoya Khoya Chand”.

The first story is about Parvez (Neil), whose life is torn between his desperation to run away with the love of his life Divya (Shahana) and his desire to get rich quickly.

Divya is married to corrupt encounter cop Chiple, played by Kay Kay. Parvez decides to steal Chiple’s money and thus unfolds new thrills in the story.

Then there is the story of Priti (Soha) and Vishal (Karan). Soha is a small-time model who is dating Vishal, a cocaine addict, who is involved in the world of crime.

Intertwined into the lives of these characters are Chutta (Vijay Maurya), a drug dealer who aims to corporatise the trade along with eunuch Begam played by Saurabh Shukla.

The medium budget “Tera Kya Hoga Johnny” was wrapped up in 2008, but the release was deferred for some unknown reasons and the producer Sharma is happy that it is releasing now. The film made headlines when its uncut version was leaked online.