Censor board discriminating against small budget films: Producer

Vikrant Rao, producer of "Bechare Biwi Ke Maare", says that his film received discriminatory treatment from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) because of being a small budget one. He added that he was asked to remove the word "Saala" from his film at a time when R. Madhavan starrer "Saala Khadoos" was released without any intervention.

Rao says that he has filed a petition in the High Court asking for justice.

"The objections were raised for 17 scenes in November 2015 before issuing the censor certificate which we duly complied to in the same month, We were also given a U/A certificate in November itself (though our film is suitable for a child to watch alone).

"It was by chance that we happened to see the movie 'Saala Khadoos' and realised the discrepancy and filed a petition in high court in February 2016," Rao told IANS.

Rao heads the production house MG10 production house, the company that is making its debut in films with "Bechare Biwi Ke Maare".

He says that "MG 10 production is perhaps the only production house with soul and heart in Delhi" and he feels that it's a "clear case of bias."

"Why else would a big banner movie with a name 'Saala Khadoos' be given a U certificate and since we are new to the Industry, were asked to make cuts for the same word which is very much in the title of that movie and then inspite of complying to 17 cuts by the board, were still given a U/A certificate," he said.

The film was set to release in around 600 theatres across Northern India (with target audience in Haryana, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab) earlier in March but it has now been postponed to April due to the case.