Seeking to downplay the controversy surrounding Aamir Khan starrer "Rang de Basanti", the film's producer and director, on Monday, said the cuts requested by the Animal Welfare Board were more to do with "procedural matters" than the issue of cruelty to animals.

"The media has made an issue out of a non-issue. The simple fact is that neither the Censor Board nor the Ministry of Defence has requested any cuts in the movie. The Animal Welfare Board has given a recommendation that a shot involving a banned horse race be removed from the final version. The shot in question is not more than 20 seconds," producer of the film Ronnie Screwala of UTV told reporters here.

"The shot in question is a traditional festival of the nihangs, a sect of Sikhism, which features a horse race that has been banned, as we were informed by the AWB. Therefore, they have asked us to remove that shot from the movie. It is more a question of procedure, wherein we had to pre-apply before shooting the scene, which we had not done," Screwala said.

Director Rakeysh Mehra said "It is in the media's mind that the Ministry of Defence had any problems with the movie. Both the Ministry and the Censor Board passed the movie without any cuts. The film will now be released on January 26 instead of January 20, but Mehra clarified neither he nor UTV had received any objection from the Defence Ministry.

"We were told by the Censor Board to refer the film to the MOD and the AWB, which we have done. While the MOD passed it without any cuts the AWB has recommended one cut. This is the normal procedure," he added.