Censor cut short Neil-Puja's kissing scene

Filmmaker Susi Ganeshan's debut Hindi film "Shortcut Romeo" has been awarded U/A-certificate by the censor board, which ran its scissors on the liplock scene between Neil Nitin Mukesh and Puja Gupta and reduced it 50 percent.

Confirming this, Ganeshan told IANS: "The film has got a U/A certificate with cuts. It is a very intense drama, which has a strong message in it. The liplock scene between Neil and Puja has been reduced to 50 percent. So, the kissing scene has been diluted as per request of the censor board."

"I think liplock is very common in Bollywood but in south it's like a big deal. I thought the kissing scene was necessary as it goes with the flow of the film," he added.

The director, who hails from South, started his career in 2002 with Tamil film "Five Star" and later directed "Virumbugiren", "Thiruttu Payale" and "Kanthaswamy".

"Shortcut Romeo", his first Hindi movie, is a remake of his Tamil venture "Thiruttu Payale" and the director assures he is "here to stay".

"I am not going to do just one film and go back to south. I am also producing 'Shortcut Romeo' and I want to try my hands in production and understand my business capability," said the director who has roped in Ameesha Patel in a negative role in "Shortcut Romeo", slated for a June 21 release.