Bollywood legend Dilip Kumar died in Mumbai on July 7 at age 98. The actor, who ruled the Indian film industry in the 50s and 60s, left behind some memorable movies for the audience to cherish. One such movie was 1961 superhit ‘Ganga Jumna’.

However, not many know that the censor board wasn’t too happy with the movie’s content and had asked for 250 cuts. Yes, the censor board, which was under the control of BV Keskar Minister of Information and Broadcasting), was irked by the violence and vulgarity in the movie, Koimoi reported. 

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Dilip Kumar, who was also the producer of the movie, wasn’t happy with the decision and asked for help from the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. 

The actor was initially told that he would be allowed to meet the PM only for 15 minutes but to his surprise, Jawaharlal Nehru spoke to him for close to one hour and listened to all his grievances, Koimoi reported. 

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Following the meeting, the movie, also starring Vyjayanthimala, Nasir Khan, and Azra was passed with no cuts and a ‘U’ rating by the censor board. It went on to become a blockbuster, earning 4 crores at the box office. It was also the highest grosser of that year. Meanwhile, BV Keskar also lost his ministry following the controversy. 

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In a recent interview with Pinkvilla, Vyjayanthimala had recounted how Dilip Kumar helped her out during ‘Ganga Jumna.’

“In Gunga Jumna, where I had to speak Bhojpuri – first of all a South Indian speaking good Hindi without the accent was something, and on top of that to speak Bhojpuri, but he was a great help. He helped me a lot to speak and even recorded dialogues for me. It was a wonderful character to play and I was greatly helped by Dilip Saab. I got an award also for that. He was very polite, gentlemanly, and very well behaved. He had no airs, and never threw his weight around,” she recalled.