‘Udta
Punjab’,
an upcoming film by Anurah Kashyap,
featuring Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt,
Kareena Kapoor and Diljit Dosanjh in lead roles,
has been in the
news for
various issues like its portrayal of a Bihari migrant and
how a film on
Punjab’s drug problem might affect the state’s image. It’s in
the
news again,
but this time because of the huge number of cuts the
Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)
has imposed on this film. In an age when a large number of people are
becoming vigilant about
social issues
like drug
abuse, and a time when movies
are
bringing these issues to the fore and receiving appreciation for the
same from fraternity members and the audience, a
debate on whether or not the harsh cuts imposed by the board on ‘Udta
Punjab’
are acceptable, is sure to rise.
Café
speaks to Goan filmmakers to get their take about this issue and
their experience with the censor board:
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I
feel that like any other creative person, makers of ‘Udta
Punjab’
too wouldn’t want anything in their film to be cut. When we make a
film, we make it responsibly and if the censor board thinks that some
scene or word is not appropriate for the audience, they can very well
give
the film an
‘Adult’ certification instead of imposing cuts. As a filmmaker, I
would like to state
that the
censor board should go with certification not censorship. As far as
Konkani movies are concerned, my film was given certification citing
the reason that it had many bad words. However, the words the critics
objected to weren’t really curse words. As they couldn’t
understand those words, they misunderstood them
to be bad. I strongly suggest that whenever a regional language movie
is screened by the
censor board, at least one of the panelists should understand that
language thoroughly in order to avoid such misunderstanding.
Bardroy
Barreto,
Director, Nachom-ia Kumpasar
I
feel sad for movie makers sometimes. The
main aim
of any
filmmaker is to express his vision,
but sometimes,
a body called
‘censor board’ decides how wide a director’s vision should be.
Nowadays,
when the
internet is so
accessible and children can watch anything they want online without
any certificate, why impose U/A, U, A on movie makers? For Konkani
movies,
I have never faced any problem as such with the censor board
but I was
questioned by many about
why a Konkani film should have
a kissing
scene. But in ‘MMS’,
those two kissing scenes were very much required for the script. In
other words,
no one can understand the vision of the director. Wouldn’t all of
them be directors as well if they understood?
Joywin
Fernandes,
Director, MMS
I
would like to state that the
Censor Board
does impose some very strict rules on film makers and many a times,
even the
simplest of
words get
cut. It
becomes difficult for us to re-edit the film and change only a few
words. Talking about Konkani films, first of all, the panelists at
the
censor board don’t understand many words, and then they want us to
remove those
words from the
film. Sitting in an AC auditorium and criticising a film is very
easy. The censor board has to understand that making of a movie is a
long and challenging process that involves many people’s efforts.
After the film is complete, it becomes tedious for us to make
changes.
Swapnil
Shetkar,
Director, Home Sweet Home
I
don’t know much about ‘Udta
Punjab’,
but I feel that if the
censor board
has imposed cuts on the movie purposely, than it’s not fair. The
movie is supposedly based on the social issue in Punjab and there
have been protests from people in Punjab that the film is staining
the state’s name. If that is the case,
why does the
board want to cut
out major
parts of the movie?
I think it’s certainly wrong on their part.
Dinesh
Bhosle,
Director, Enemy?
