New Delhi: The government Friday constituted a committee headed by eminent filmmaker Shyam Benegal to look into the revamp of the Censor Board, which has been mired in controversy since Pahlaj Nihalani took charge as its chief last year.
“A whole lot of Indian films have enriched the cultural milieu of the country besides making astonishing advances in technical aspects of film-making. Keeping this in view… a committee headed by Shri Shyam Benegal has been constituted to suggest the paradigm for ensuring such a milieu,” a statement released by the government said.
The panel, which would submit its report in two months, includes filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, adman Piyush Pandey and film critic Bhawana Somaaya.
“During their deliberations, the Committee would be expected to take note of the best practises in various parts of the world, especially where the film industry is given sufficient and adequate space for creative and aesthetic expression,” he said.
When asked, Benegal said the I&B ministry “spoke to me a couple of days ago on telephone and I am yet to know exactly what the proposal is. There is only one question that is asked to me whether I would like to be a member of the committee, which is looking into the problem of film certification.
“This is a committee formed by the government to see how effective, transparent and satisfactory the system is.”
Friday’s announcement came within days of I&B minister Arun Jaitley telling PTI that the “time has come” to have a re-look at the functioning of Censor Board as he would like the Certification Board to be “controversy-free”.
Filmmakers have complained of arbitrary objections and cuts sought by the Board in the recent past including the criticism for the cuts the latest James Bond movie Spectre had to go through for its screening in India.
A list of banned “cuss” words, circulated by CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani had also become a subject of controversy.
Under Nihalani’s tenure, the board earned criticism for its periodic ‘guidelines’ of what is considered out of joint with Indian culture.
Top ‘Sanskari’ saves by Pahlaj Nihalani
Ever since CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani took over, filmmakers and audiences fumed over drastic snips and cuts to whatever Nihalani thought was ‘against Indian culture’ in movies. Here are a few instances of Nihalani at work, saving Indians from homosexuality and cuss words and upholding India’s culture
1.A list of ‘profanities’ – some of them as tame as the word ‘lesbian’ – was muted from the movie Dum Laga Ke Haisha. Even the word Bombay was deemed as inappropriate
2.Stopped release of a movie titled Unfreedom – a film on homosexual relationships
3.James Bond in his latest movie Spectre kissed only half as much in India, as the kissing scenes were deemed to be unnecessarily long
4.Salman Khan’s Prem Ratan Dhan Payo was preceded in theatres by a video titled Mera Desh Hai Mahaan – singing paeans of Narendra Modi. The video left the BJP red-faced
Agencies
