Chatrapathi: Was Bellamkonda Sreenivas’ comedy track with Johny Lever edited out of the film?

They say a film is made first on location and is remade on the editing table. An editor is the first viewer of any feature film and a lot of creative decisions are dependent on the rapport that he/she shares with a film director. While Venu Madhav’s track was a major highlight of the SS Rajamouli directorial Chatrapathi, the recently released Hindi remake of the same, helmed by VV Vinayak, had no space for humour.

While the Telugu version of Chatrapathi, starring Prabhas, Shriya Saran lasted over 160 minutes, the Hindi remake was shorter by 40 minutes - several emotional sequences and the entire comedy track was omitted out of the film. However, it seems like these decisions weren’t made during the writing stage but on the editing table instead.

A couple of years ago, during the shoot of the Chatrapathi remake, it was revealed that Johny Lever would be a part of the film and Bellamkonda expressed his enthusiasm about associating with a legend for his Hindi debut. Much to audience’s surprise, the iconic comedian was nowhere to be seen in the film that hit theatres on May 12. Though his role may have been chopped for the betterment of the film, it’s quite a brave choice by the team.

If at all the team decides to release a few deleted scenes from the film, viewers may have a chance to watch Johny Lever’s portions. Karan Singh Chabbra, Sharad Kelkar, Bhagyashree, Amith Nair, Shivam Patil, Freddy Daruwala, Rajendra Gupta played the supporting roles in the film which featured Nushrratt Bharuccha as the female lead.

Niranjan Devarmane edited the film while Nizar Shafi was the cinematographer. Mayur Puri wrote the dialogues and Ravi Basrur scored the music. RRR writer Vijayendra Prasad penned the story. The film opened to largely negative reviews and was a washout at the box office.