Anurag Kashyap‘s much-anticipated ‘Kennedy’ is set to hit screens tomorrow, Friday, February 20, following an extended delay. It first dazzled audiences with its premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, then wowed viewers again that year at Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. The film received its censor certificate just one month after that successful screening.
‘Kennedy’ faces changes from CBFC
As reported by Bollywood Hungama, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) approved ‘Kennedy’ with an ‘A’ certificate. However, the Examining Committee instructed a few modifications. The profanity ‘motherf*****’ was muted both in dialogue and subtitles. Meanwhile, the mention of ‘Donald Trump‘ was altered to ‘Pump Trump’. Additionally, visuals of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and the dialogue ‘Dawood Ibrahim ne…1993 mein’ were removed and substituted with the term ‘Pakistan Don’.
‘Kennedy’ sees scene deletions and edits
In the first half of the film, the scene featuring the objectionable dialogue “Matunga, Matunga… Pungi bajaao,” lasting around 14 seconds, was ordered to be removed. Additionally, the board directed that the anti-smoking static message be displayed in every scene depicting smoking.
‘Kennedy’ gets its censor certificate
After implementing the suggested changes, ‘Kennedy’ received its censor certificate on November 23, 2023. According to the certificate, the film’s runtime is 148.54 minutes, equivalent to 2 hours, 28 minutes, and 54 seconds.
Kennedy’s story and global presence
‘Kennedy’ features Rahul Bhat and Sunny Leone in the lead roles. Set against the backdrop of the Covid era, the film follows an ex-cop believed to be dead but secretly alive, carrying out shady assignments for a corrupt Mumbai commissioner while operating a luxury app-based cab in the city. In December 2025, Kennedy made headlines as the only Indian film chosen for the launch lineup of Letterboxd’s Video Store, becoming available to viewers across 23 countries through the TVOD model, though India was not among them. The following month, in January 2026, it was announced that Kennedy would premiere on Zee5.
