Eight days after the teaser of Ajay Devgn’s upcoming actioner, Chauhaan, premiered online, its makers quietly made two tweaks to the video—including dropping actor Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub’s voice from the opening monologue.
The dialogue that begins the over two-minute video earlier had Ayyub voicing it. After the first line, the remaining voiceover features Devgn’s vocals. If one checks the YouTube link of the teaser now, one would hear another voice opening the video. Not only that, the new voiceover has the word “major” replaced by “colonel”.
Since the teaser has dropped, Devgn and the makers, Jio Studios and Aanand L Rai’s Colour Yellow Productions have been receiving backlash for mentions of “pellet guns” and portrayal of the people in Kashmiri, who are seen standing against the armed forces. Ayyub, who is known for consistently championing sensitive stories, has also been criticised for lending his voice to the teaser, which many have called “insensitive and divisive”.
The criticism online has been from several quarters, including the Hindi film audience, political activists and influential voices from Kashmir. From Devgn, directors Neeraj Yadav to producers Jyoti Deshpande (Jio Studios), Rai and Himanshu Sharma of Colour Yellow Productions, have remained silent on the two changes. The producers chose not to respond to mid-day’s request for a comment.
