While it is the censor board’s scissors that a filmmaker dreads the most, the makers of the Malayalam film Marco have faced criticism from viewers instead, despite getting a clearance from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). Marco, which has had a good run at the box office, was released without seven minutes of content that the Board objected to, but viewers have condemned scenes of violence, including one that shows the killing of a baby and another featuring a pregnant woman being tortured.

The CBFC’s regional office in Trivandrum has reportedly been inundated with complaints from viewers who have questioned how such content was cleared for release and urged for stricter guidelines on graphic violence in Indian films. A viewer, Saswata Guha, tells mid-day, “This is not cinema; it is barbarity. Yes, it is A-rated, but does that give a filmmaker a free pass to showcase such scenes? It features scenes of infanticide, children being hanged, pregnant women being tortured, wombs being smashed open, and unborn babies being ripped out. This is not art. This is a vile spectacle. That the CBFC allowed such sickening imagery to be screened is unforgivable. What happened to their responsibility as gatekeepers of ethical filmmaking?”