British version of Peepli [Live] knocks off references to actor Saif Ali Khan

For its deferred British release, Peepli [Live] has undergone culture-specific changes. These include the editing of sequences featuring references to Saif Ali Khan. The scene featured a sensation-hungry news channel getting excited over a kiss that a girl planted on Saif's lips when he was in college.

"Aamir and his director Anusha Rizvi felt that some of the culture-specific references had to go. And the Saif reference was one of them, " says a source close to the film unit.

It's ironic, considering Saif considers himself "almost-British" and has spent half his life in his favourite city, London.

For the London release of Peepli [Live], Khan has tied up with the posh Curzon chain of theatres, which exclusively release European and arthouse films.

"Aamir is a visionary. He sees the movie creating the same impact on global audiences as Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali and Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay. These two films changed the way the West looked at people below the poverty line in India.

He also doesn't want references to get too obscure for British audiences. He will, therefore, do away with parts of Peepli [Live] that are too rooted in the Indian ethos to connect with British audiences, " adds the source.

Khan will be in London from September 14 till September 24 to promote the British version of the film. Apparently, he has planned an all-new strategy to market the movie in England, which will be different from the way it was projected in India.

The movie's release in the UK was deferred by a month since Khan wanted to give it a mainstream release. The actor wasn't content seeing Indian cinema being a distant cousin to global cinema.