In 2003, Ravi Shankar Prasad was Minister of State, Information and Broadcasting. It fell on him to decide on a Censor Board chief—soon after his predecessor had had a run-in with the erstwhile chief Vijay Anand, over the idea of special theatres for adult films. Mr Prasad decided to ask someone he loved: Dev Anand. The latter refused, too busy making a new film.

The film Dev Anand was busy with at the time was called, no lie, Censor. In it, a director (Dev Anand) makes a radical film about modern relationships. The film is denied a censor certificate by the Censor Board chief, played by Rekha, who chews pan during the screening, in a rousing role-play reversal from tawaif to patron. There is a court case. The film is smuggled to Hollywood via Arachana Puran Singh’s fake American accent and faker poodle. It wins not one, but two Oscars. This leads to an assassination attempt.