by Subhash K Jha

It has been a tense week for Rakeysh Mehra. But now he can breathe easy. The eagerly awaited Rang De Basanti has been finally cleared by the Ministry Of Defence and the Animal Welfare Board.

"We basically had to delete just 20 seconds of the footage showing the Nihangs indulging in a horse sport. The shots made no difference to my film. And if I knew about the Nihangs not being allowed to indulge in this sport, I'd have never incorporated them."

"We really need more transparency about the dos and don'ts. I don't want to do things that get a film into trouble. There's too much at stake, yaar," Rakeysh sounds utterly at peace with the film's final outcome.

What about the shots of an MIG plane being crashing, which apparently the defence ministry objected to? " That episode in my film is factual. There was absolutely no quibble about it. As I told you nothing has been cut except some seconds of shots showing horses running up and down the screen."

Rakeysh Mehra is full of praise for the defence personnel. "It was the proudest moment of my life when senior defence personnel including the raksha mantri saw my film and said it was a commendable effort. I'm a product of a military school, and I know how to respect our defence forces."

Rakeysh is pleased with the postponement of the film. "It actually worked to my advantage. If we release on 26th I get the public holiday for my film, also an extra week for the film to be promoted and projected. So all's well that ends well."