The Supreme Court in a judgment in 1989 said, ‘Film censorship becomes necessary because a film motivates thought and action and assures a high degree of attention and retention as compared to the printed word. The combination of act and speech, sight and sound in semi-darkness of the theater with the elimination of all distracting ideas will have a strong impact on the minds of the viewers and can affect emotions. Therefore, it has as much potential for evil as it has for good and has an equal potential to instill or cultivate violent or good behavior. It cannot be equated with other modes of communication. Censorship by prior restraint is, therefore, not only desirable but also necessary.’

The reason we have different categories (U, U/A, A and S) for the films made today, is to restrict the audience as per their age and more, so that it doesn’t taint the fragile human mind and conscious. But when movies like ‘Kya super cool hai hum’, ‘Boom’, ‘Expose’ ‘Jism’ etc, easily pass the certification of the Censor Board, there doesn’t seem to be any objection on that. But when it comes to movies that want to educate us about the real deal in life, about the political history of the nation or bring out some of the hidden evil in the government, are smoothly banned for their “indecent” content.

Movies like Lipstick under my burkha which was banned for being “too ladylike”, director Milan Bhowmik’s film which is based on the ‘1946 Calcutta Killings’ portrays Jawaharlal Nehru in a negative light, was also rejected a go for which, the director had to go to the point of sending a suicide threat to the CBFC in a letter. Pahjal Nihalani, the chairman of CBFC, now wants filmmakers to get a NOC from politicians before the film can be passed.

Whether it’s a documentary on Arvind Kejriwal or former PM Manmohan Singh, the film will not be cleared without the NOC. Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla, the makers of ‘An Insignificant Man’, a movie based on Arvind Kejriwal and his journey from “Aam Aadmi” to becoming a controversial politician, have been asked to get an NOC from PM Narendra Modi former Delhi CM Sheila Dixit and Kejriwal himself. Ranka said,” A documentary by definition is a documentation of reality…No wonder people don’t make political films in India. You’re always punished for it, and it sets a very bad precedent.” “It’s a ridiculous demand,” “By disallowing taking of names, the CBFC is saying you can’t refer to reality itself. Even in the case of Udta Punjab, they wanted to remove the names of the places to connect it to Punjab. They want to erase the idea of reality from films and relegate it to candyfloss, meaningless timepass” Ranka added.

Nihalani’s role in censoring films has been highly criticized. To defend himself, he has often made a statement that CBFC doesn’t only have the responsibility to certify films but also preserve the country’s culture and tradition. Alankrita Shrivastava, the director of ‘Lipstick under my burkha’ says,” In cinema and on television, we continue to self-censor, even before the film actually goes up for certification. If you have sat around writers and directors, you will know that common refrain, ‘Arre the censor won’t pass it. Forget about that idea. This is India.” Indian Film Industry is the largest, making over 1250 feature films every year and a much larger number of short films every year. There has always been a lot of discussion over film certification; more so later after the censor board issued a list of banned swear words.

What is the meaning of art and creativity and media when one doesn’t even have the freedom to express it? What is the meaning of visualization of art and forms when all we see on the TV is shows reaching a new low everytime? Shows like ‘Sasural Simar Ka’, “saas bhi kabhi bahu thi” and endless related crap being shown on the TV certainly doesn’t have a negative impact on the audience?

Movies of our ‘bhai, Salman Khan’ throwing in crap stories with the same concept of the male protagonist being a “bad boy” who beats his girlfriend occasionally, fight the “real bad guys” but in the end had a good heart? But you know, Bhai can move mountains so that definitely has a catch, right? I mean I’m not against these things being cleared by the Censor board but, please, can we at least have some good, quality entertainment too?

Maybe not! Maybe not until people, in reality, lose their common sense and there is nothing more to educate from! What people see, is what they become!

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