 "New film certification norms soon: Jaitley")
Opposition party heads have joined the controversy over censorship of parts of the Hindi movie, Udta Punjab, while senior Cabinet minister Arun Jaitley said the present system of film certification needed reform. And, the high court in Mumbai asked for an explanation from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC, usually referred to as the Censor Board).
In the next few days, Jaitley stated, the government would be announcing some “very radical changes”. That apart, Jaitley (minister of finance and also in charge of information and broadcasting) said the controversy was being unnecessarily fuelled; the filmmakers could always appeal to the appellate body.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal, also chief minster of Delhi, and Congress Punjab unit head Amarinder Singh, insisted the movie be shown without any cuts. They saw a political motive in the censor board’s decision, given the elections in Punjab early next year, with an Akali-BJP government there.
At an event in Delhi, Jaitley said he didn’t want to comment on the film, as he hadn’t watched it. Stating he was “not satisfied” with the existing system of certification, he said: “There is a well documented report by Shyam Benegal, the first part which has come to me, which is under consideration. Over the next few days we are going to announce some very radical changes...You will probably have a system where you will have to have a certificate. The correct word is certification and not censorship. Certification norms will have to be liberal,” he said at the Indian of the Year Award by the CNN-TV18 Group.
CBFC has recommended several cuts to the film, scheduled to be released on June 17, as it shows Punjab in a poor light.
“At the end of the day you have a Board which takes a view which may be a little conservative but then at the appeal tribunal, it can get disposed off. My experience has been almost everything then gets cleared,” said Jaitley.
There are people in the system whose attitude might be a little conservative “but there are internal checks and balances. For instance, I look at the big picture and the big picture is a Certification Board -- we popularly call it Censor Board -- and you have the appeal tribunal. Whenever you have a problem at the level of the first body, people go to the next slab and in 99 per cent of the cases, with or without some changes, it gets cleared by the next body,” he said.
Congress and AAP pointed fingers at CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani, saying he was trying to censor parts of the move at the behest of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the Akali-BJP government in Punjab. Kejriwal tweeted so and Amarinder Singh said he'd show the unedited version in Majitha in Punjab, which he claims to be the centre of the drug trade. Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati also said she supported the film makers.
Punjab's deputy chief minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, said his government had "nothing to do" with the Board's decision but it was for the latter to find a balance between freedom of expression on the one hand and deliberately or inadvertently blackening the face of a state, a community or a faith on the other.
The Bombay High Court sought an explanation from the CBFC over its demand for deleting the 'Punjab' signboard in the film. Judge S C Dharmadhikari compared Udta Punjab with another film released earlier, titled Go, Goa, Gone. That movie, he said, showed the state of Goa as a place where people go to party and take banned drugs.
In the next few days, Jaitley stated, the government would be announcing some “very radical changes”. That apart, Jaitley (minister of finance and also in charge of information and broadcasting) said the controversy was being unnecessarily fuelled; the filmmakers could always appeal to the appellate body.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal, also chief minster of Delhi, and Congress Punjab unit head Amarinder Singh, insisted the movie be shown without any cuts. They saw a political motive in the censor board’s decision, given the elections in Punjab early next year, with an Akali-BJP government there.
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The movie depicts the widespread problem of drug addition in Punjab. The AAP and Congress are campaigning that the 10-year Akali-BJP rule has worsened the situation, with more allegations against the ruling Badal family.
At an event in Delhi, Jaitley said he didn’t want to comment on the film, as he hadn’t watched it. Stating he was “not satisfied” with the existing system of certification, he said: “There is a well documented report by Shyam Benegal, the first part which has come to me, which is under consideration. Over the next few days we are going to announce some very radical changes...You will probably have a system where you will have to have a certificate. The correct word is certification and not censorship. Certification norms will have to be liberal,” he said at the Indian of the Year Award by the CNN-TV18 Group.
CBFC has recommended several cuts to the film, scheduled to be released on June 17, as it shows Punjab in a poor light.
“At the end of the day you have a Board which takes a view which may be a little conservative but then at the appeal tribunal, it can get disposed off. My experience has been almost everything then gets cleared,” said Jaitley.
There are people in the system whose attitude might be a little conservative “but there are internal checks and balances. For instance, I look at the big picture and the big picture is a Certification Board -- we popularly call it Censor Board -- and you have the appeal tribunal. Whenever you have a problem at the level of the first body, people go to the next slab and in 99 per cent of the cases, with or without some changes, it gets cleared by the next body,” he said.
Congress and AAP pointed fingers at CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani, saying he was trying to censor parts of the move at the behest of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the Akali-BJP government in Punjab. Kejriwal tweeted so and Amarinder Singh said he'd show the unedited version in Majitha in Punjab, which he claims to be the centre of the drug trade. Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati also said she supported the film makers.
Punjab's deputy chief minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, said his government had "nothing to do" with the Board's decision but it was for the latter to find a balance between freedom of expression on the one hand and deliberately or inadvertently blackening the face of a state, a community or a faith on the other.
The Bombay High Court sought an explanation from the CBFC over its demand for deleting the 'Punjab' signboard in the film. Judge S C Dharmadhikari compared Udta Punjab with another film released earlier, titled Go, Goa, Gone. That movie, he said, showed the state of Goa as a place where people go to party and take banned drugs.