Rights to 'cut' a film should belong to the makers: Benegal

The Benegal Committee in its recent report on revamp of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has taken a fundamental position that it should not have the right to cut a film, but it should belong to the person who has made the film.
"There are two basis on which our committee decided to work one was fundamentally speaking the government has no right to interfere in the creative work of anybody and if there is any change to be made and if the decision to exercise on a part of a film.... That right should belong only to the person who has made the film. Nobody else has the right," veteran film maker Shyam Benegal said here today.

The report has gone to the government and the first part was given in April and second part was given in June. The government is still to take a view on this subject, Benegal, who heads the committee tasked with the revamping the censor board said.
He further said the Cinematograph Act of 1952 if it requires amendment then it has to go into the Parliament.
"Change or amendment can only be done by the house of the people and can't be done by the committee. It (tabling) depends on the government itself. It has to come as a Bill and has to be brought in by the government itself."

Among other suggestions, the committee has also asked for increasing the number of film certification categories.

"The kind of classification we now have is in many ways inadequate and our committee decided that we break up categories.
"There is a conscious attempt to restrict an audience coming to see the film. You are not cutting somebody's role... You are cautioning them for the kind of the film it is," he explained.
"In democracy, we have freedom and those freedom are limited by Constitution. You can't have freedom beyond your Constitution."
"We have a very diverse society... Whether anybody likes censorship or not is not the question. The question is there needs to be some kind of regulation... All societies have it," he said.

Filmmaker Goutam Ghose, a member of the Shyam Benegal-led censor board revamp committee, sought to know why there is no regulatory system for television and asked why it is only for cinema.