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Censor The Board

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“Censorship is when a work of art expressing an idea which does not fall under current convention is seized, cut up, withdrawn, impounded, ignored, maligned, or otherwise made inaccessible to its audience.” — Ritu Menon, for Women’s World Organisation for Rights, Literature, and Development. 

A classic example of censorship in India is the Central Board of Film Certification or Censor Board, which comes under the purview of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

The Board regularly orders, directors to remove anything it deems offensive or subjects considered to be politically subversive. The censorship of films is governed by the Cinematograph Act, 1952. It assigns certification as Universal, Adults, and Parental Guidance to films in India before public exhibition.

Around the world the utmost concern of censors is the depiction of violence and sex. The censor board’s job is to control the “corruption of the mind’ and to stop pornographic films. But on the other hand it is ironical that anyone with internet access can see endless amounts of pornography. Today a child with access to internet can see all kinds of pornography by typing three letters “sex”, while the censor board has long discussions on the permissible duration of a kissing scene in a movie. I am not saying that we should legalize pornography, but in today’s age the censor board has to understand that this generation exercises their right to freedom of speech and expression.

Censorship in Indian Film industry

Amidst reports that controversial film “Messenger of God” featuring Dera Saccha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in lead role has been cleared by Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), Censor Board chief Leela Samson Thursday said she has decided to resign.

Asked if she was aware of media reports that the nod has been given by FCAT to the film’s screening, Samson said that “I hear so. Nothing in writing yet. It is a mockery of Central Board of Film Certification. My resignation is final. Have informed the (I&B) Secretary”.

There was, however, no official word on the decision, if any, of FCAT.

The Censor Board had referred the issue of clearance to “Messenger of God” to FCAT. The film was slated to hit the screens on Friday.

Recently, even Aamir Khan starrer PK was mired in controversy after riots broke out across the country citing the fact that religious sentiments were hurt by the director Rajkumar Hirani and actor Aamir Khan.

Censor Board chief Leela Samson, however, defended the decision to give a go-ahead to Aamir Khan- starrer PK and said “political and ideological groups” may advise their followers not to watch it.

“Our job is to certify. That we have done. We are not a censorship board. Political or ideological groups may advice their followers not to watch it,” Samson said when asked for a reaction to a series of protests across the country against PK.

Activists of right-wing outfits, including Bajrang Dal, were protesting demanding a ban on the film for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.

There have been protests in several parts of the country including in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
 
The film’s director Rajkumar Hirani rejected the allegation that it was disrespectful to Hinduism and said it upheld the true spirit of religion.
 
In a statement, Hirani said he had no intention to hurt anyone’s sentiments and maintained that the film upholds the true spirit of religion while condemning “only the abuse” of it.

There was a huge controversy with regards to the kissing scene in Dhoom 2 which ended in people burning its movie posters and obstructing people from entering the cinema halls to watch the film. Vishwaroopam, a Tamil film was blocked by the Tamil Nadu government after a protest from the Muslim Community. The director was forced to delete some important scenes from the movie before releasing the same. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad protested against the women modelling dresses bearing images of Hindu Gods, a Fatwa was brought against all girls rock band saying it was Un-Islamic. Therefore, on observing the above incidents it seems that it’s not actually the government censoring but rather the self employed moral police doing the job.

Aseem Trivedi, Indian political cartoonist and activist had been sent to jail on the grounds of sedition for publishing a series of cartoons highlighting corruption in India. He was later freed under a wave of protest.

The Constitution of India guarantees freedom of speech and expression with certain restrictions such as that of morality, decency, public order etc.  Further, the Indian Penal Code allows cramping free speech on grounds of outraging religious feelings, making statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes on grounds of religion, caste, language or race. The Information Act, 2000 aims to punish people who send offensive messages online but is often used to target dissident and even posts on social media.

These laws are so broadly classified that cases can be impossible to quash, because it is difficult for a judge to take the view that some of speech does not promote hatred between groups. There is no chance that these laws can be struck of the legislations. Politically, nobody will do it, because we have such a huge vacuum of leadership that nobody has the guts to step up and suggest such changes. 

If the government has certified that a particular movie is for adults only, even then the scenes are deleted. This happens especially so in foreign movies which are released in India. The word “fuck”, which may have varied meaning, is effectively scrubbed out of a film and its subtitles. Newspapers carry revealing pictures of actresses and print adult jokes which can be read by children pretty easily. Ironically the Board makes sure that the kissing scene is deleted from a particular movie. How could it be constitutional to prevent the free broadcast of news over radio, for instance, or to prohibit speech online that causes ‘annoyance’? Not only speech restricting laws not being struck off, but more such laws are being added to the statutes all the time.

It seems that censorship can be a weapon in the hands of the State to make people agree with its ideology. Often the Censor Board functions to impose the State’s notion of Indianness and nationhood. The reach and power of films in India is massive. If a director wants to show the reality, he has to put it in a movie and then what happens, the censor board removes it. The Dirty Picture and other ‘A’ films, according to the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC), can be screened on television without cuts after 11pm. The BCCC suggested some sort of a coordination mechanism between the Central Board of Film Certification and the TV regulatory body for the certification of films for TV viewing. By this does it mean that the T.V is meant for children and not adults? Now is the time to look into the role that can be played by healthy criticism, analysis, and cinema literacy, rather than relying on a Censor Board that acts as a moral police, stopping the dissent. 

 

 

 

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