The Bollywood film industry and CBFC – the eternal battle continues!

A seemingly harmless movie has been banned since it failed to get any kind of certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification in India – was it too hot to handle for them? 😛

Something similar happened with Fifty Shades of Grey, the movie was also rejected for its over-the-top sex scenes with frontal nudity and sadomasochism.

What is it all about?

• 36-year old director Raj Amit Kumar’s debut film ‘Unfreedom’ which starts actors Adil Hussain and Victor Bannerjee in its key roles espousing has been banned in India since it espouses homosexuality – a topic that is still ‘hush-hush’ in India. :O

• The Florida-based director is highly disappointed with the CBFC since he was unable to get the required clearance from the Appellate Tribunal despite a written appeal. Kumar has languished at the sloppy certification process and has termed it as the snatching of ‘basic human rights’. L

• He vented out his feelings to the media by saying, “What I am experiencing is tyranny, hypocrisy and irony of people… I don’t feel any film should be banned in the country. You can only give strict certification and you can remove certain things or the other depending on that.”

• The film is being floated as contemporary thriller inspired by Faiz Ahmad Faiz’si conic poem, “Ye Dagh Dagh Ujala” in which the lives of two homosexuals is being chronicled over two cities – New York and New Delhi.

• However, the Censor board has emphasized that the movie was denied any certificate by the Examining Committee but it was later being awarded an ‘A’ (adult) certificate by the Revising Committee with minor cuts to which the director refused.

• The director even approached the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) which upheld the ban.

• The film is also being put under ban since it deals with a Hindu-Muslim love angle and features lovemaking scenes between the protagonists of the two religions.

• The film is expected to hit all major North American theaters on May 29 this year.

However, the sad part is Indian audience might not get to see the brilliant work of two highly qualified actors. The board’s argument that the movie can incite enmity between the Hindus and Muslims apart from “igniting unnatural passions.” is totally baseless!

Why not let the audience decide what turns them on and sets their inner beast on fire? 😛

• So many movies with nudity have been awarded ‘A’ certificates with cuts that the real essence of a movie loses its charm. A movie is not porn, dear CBFC!

• Since the film failed to clear all three committees, it is considered banned until the filmmaker decides to move the court, which Kumar has already decided. He is planning to make an appeal to the High Court of Mumbai soon.

• This might just be a ploy on the filmmaker’s part to earn a ban in India and sell the movie blaringly in the offshore locations since he is now plastering a ‘Banned in India’ banner on the movie trailers. So much for accepting criticism! 😛

We hope that justice prevails and that we get to see the work of these fine actors right here in India.

After all, why should the CBFC decide what we want to see? Can’t the movie be passed off with an ‘X’ certificate that most Hollywood movies come with?

Maybe it’s time the ‘X’ certificate is included in the CBFC portfolio…

The post A Bollywood Movie That Was Banned Straight Away…No ‘A’ Certificate For This One! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

It is no secret that the Indian censor board has been interjecting with Bollywood’s creativity a bit too much. Nothing much has changed this time around either.

Recently, the censor board chief released a statement containing a list of words that are to be not used by Indian filmmakers in their movies.

This list contains two columns, where the first one contains words in English, the second section depicts Hindi words that they have banned.

In the latter section, words such as “maarna”, “lena”, “dena”, “bajana” and “phadna”, to name a few, which are often used as violent or sexual innuendos, are banned, too.

The Central Board of Film Certification chairman Pahlaj Nihalani, as per reports, has sent this particular list to the Producers’ Association and Regional Officers.

Pahlaj Nihalani, Censor Board chief

“Haramzada” is another word that has been banned by CBFC. Remember the good ol’ days when we watched Dharmendra’s movies that contained this particular cuss word? Yes, reminisce those days and come back to the modern day while bidding adieu to the time when dialogues containing “cuss” words made sense.

Twitteratis expressed their concerns condemning this move exercised by CBFC. One Twitter user made a valid point suggesting all movies should then be unanimously released with ‘U’ certification, as ‘A’ certification would not make sense anymore.

It has only been close to a month since Pahlaj Nihalani took up the role as the Censor Board chief. His list contains 36 cuss words that are to be banned from Bollywood films.

The list of banned words circulated by CBFC

The passing of this circular has caused internal rift within the CBFC with Ashoke Pandit leading the way claiming this order to be “murder” of creativity. He also claimed in his tweet that he was not consulted about the objectionable words.

Other than profane words, even the word ‘Bombay’ is to be excluded from movies. This is with reference to the Government of Maharashtra notification sent out in year 1996 where Mumbai is to be used instead of Bombay.

The order sent out by Mr. Nihalani reads as follows, “It has been noticed that some of the objectionable words/abusive words are still to be deleted from the film”.

So, what next can we expect…ban on item numbers, lack of gore scenes (which, by the way, Bollywood does not use as much as Hollywood)!! The clock’s ticking, time’s moving on and the new generation is walking in.

Though the conventional audience can deal with sobriety, the newer audience demands scenes pumped with adrenaline, a hundred cuss words and people getting killed in movies, even if the deaths make no sense.

Banning is not an option. Let’s hope the CBFC understands the audience’s demands and comes to terms with what they want to allow or ban.

The post Dear CBFC… Why You Ban These Cuss Words??? appeared first on Youngisthan.in.