Censorship row: Barring few brave voices, deafening silence in industry

It has been a week since the Union government sought public comments on the draft Cinematograph Amendment Bill 2021 which proposes to arm the Centre with the power to order recertification of a certified film if they receive complaints from viewers thus putting movies under direct government censorship over and above the Central Board for Film Certification CBFCIt could well be seen as another blow for the entertainment industry that is surely and steadily being weighed down by creative curbs mdash in April the Ministry of Law and Justice abolished the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal FCAT overnightThe Hindi film industry has remained largely silent on the latest development barring a few brave voices While Sudhir Mishra tweeted how the amendment will make ldquofilmmaking impossiblerdquo Vishal Bhardwaj urged the film fraternity to oppose the ldquounfair provisionrdquo When midday reached out to filmmaker Pritish Nandy he said it is yet another effort to clamp down creative expression ldquoOn top of censorship if you were to impose review of censorship you are unnecessarily creating impossible conditions for creative people Soon you will do that to books music theatre and everything The assault on the creative arts is the sign of a government in desperation The idea is to tame the creative arts because it has the power to change the world They the government cannot kill the spirit of a creative person but they can do it to a creative process that changes the way people thinkrdquo He noted that once the Centre deems a film unfit for viewing makers will be compelled to move the Supreme Court which will be an expensive processAlso Read Guneet Monga on FCAT Freedom of speech is being taken awayDown south National Awardwinning director Vetrimaaran has reportedly spoken to the Tamil Nadu Directorsrsquo Association about making a move against the bill The News Minute quoted him as saying ldquoThe bill is their the governmentrsquos way of trying to control the narrativesrdquo His sentiment was echoed by documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan who described the bill as ldquoillegal and unconstitutionalrdquomidday reached out to Bollywood film associations to understand if they intend to open a dialogue with the government on the matter The Producersrsquo Guild declined to comment on the story One of the members from the Guildrsquos Council of Management on condition of anonymity said ldquoRight now we have a survival issue Dailywagers producers and actors have made negligible amount of money in the past year When onersquos survival is under question fighting for creative expression is a battle of luxuryrdquo Another member assured that the issue will be discussed in the next Guild meeting TP Aggarwal president Indian Motion Picture Producersrsquo Association said that the matter will be raised at a producersrsquo meeting today Ashoke Pandit president Indian Film and Television Directorsrsquo Association added ldquoItrsquos too early to comment because we havenrsquot received anything in writingrdquoAlso Read Hear regulation know its censorshipFor the uninitiated earlier under Section 6 of the Cinematograph Act 1952 the Centre was empowered to call for the record of proceedings in relation to certification of a film and pass any order However in 1991 the Karnataka High Court had stated that the union government could not exercise revisional powers on films already certified by the CBFC a decision that was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2000More Changes The Cinematograph Amendment Bill 2021 also proposes that content be subjected to agebased classification UA7 UA13 and UA16 So far films are certified under three categories unrestricted exhibition or U parental guidance required for children under 12 or UA and adult films or A The bill will also introduce Section 6AA which prohibits unauthorised recording thus curbing film piracy Those penalised will face a jail term ranging from three months to three years and a fine not less than Rs 3 lakhAlso Read Ranvir Shorey Censorship will be a regressive step