Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap gets on a call with a figure resembling US President Donald Trump, requesting help for theatrical release of Kennedy, in a quirky promotional video that seemingly takes a dig at Trump references getting snipped from the film.
After several delays, the film eventually released on OTT on February 20.
A day after its long-awaited release, ZEE5 shared the sarcastic promo video on Instagram.
Despite being pun-intended and possibly AI-generated, it was a crossover nobody saw coming.
The short video begins with Kashyap poring over a script of Kennedy marked ‘confidential’ and feeling frustrated about the two-and-a-half-year delay in release. “Lagta hai bade papa ko phone lagana padhega,” he mutters before calling Trump.
Trump’s figure appears with his back profile. When the filmmaker introduces himself and his hit films like Ugly, Raman Raghav 2.0 and Black Friday, Trump says, “I love India. One of my favourite countries.”
Recalling Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Gangs of Wasseypur dialogue, “Sabka Badla Lega,” Trump calls Kashyap the “Controversy king” before wittily proclaiming, “Nobody does controversy better than me. Not even you.”
To this, Kashyap sarcastically replies, “Woh toh hai, aapka toh koi muqabla hi nahi hai, sir (That’s true. My controversies do not compare to yours).”
Kashyap goes on to explain the situation for Kennedy’s release and asks for Trump’s help. “Don’t worry. I’ll make some arrangements. But you’ll have to do a private screening in White House,” comes the response from the US President.
“Go start your marketing plans,” the president says, while Kashyap’s face seemingly lights up.
Despite receiving clearance from the Central Board of Film Certification, Kennedy never secured a theatrical release in India.
The CBFC greenlit Kennedy for release with an A certificate, but with several censors. As per media reports, these include the curse word ‘motherf*****’ muted, adding an anti-smoking disclaimer during all smoking scenes and removing a 14-second scene.
References to the Indian mob boss Dawood Ibrahim and US President Donald Trump have also been removed in the ZEE5 version. A character named Salim has ties with Dawood in the film, but all references to Dawood were replaced with “Pakistan Don”. Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s name was rewritten as “Pump Trump” in one of the scenes.
Kennedy had its world premiere in the Midnight Screenings section at Cannes, where it received a seven-minute standing ovation. The film was also screened at the Sydney Film Festival, Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea, Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival in Switzerland, the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, and the London Indian Film Festival. It was also screened at the MAMI Film Festival in 2023.
The thriller follows an insomniac former police officer, presumed dead, who continues to operate within a corrupt system while secretly seeking redemption.
Presented by Zee Studios and produced by Good Bad Films, the film stars Rahul Bhat and Sunny Leone in lead roles, with Mohit Takalkar, Abhilash Thapliyal and Megha Burman appearing in key roles.
Kennedy also had a limited digital premiere in December on Letterboxd’s online film-rental platform, Video Store. However, users in India could not access the film on the platform.
