NDTV: Mumbai: Wednesday, May 07, 2014.
Hansal Mehta
is upset with the Central Board of Film Certification's (CBFC) criterion for
awarding certificates to movies and has filed an RTI application, asking why
Ram-Leela was given U/A certificate and his Shahid an A.
He feels the
censor board was unfair when it awarded U/A certificates to Ram-Leela and
Madras Cafe.
The director
took to Twitter to share the news about his RTI application.
"Filed a
RTI about U/A certificate to Ram-Leela," Hansal posted on the
microblogging site on Tuesday.
He feels that
the censor board is "discriminating" against his film.
"Have
nothing against Ram-Leela and Madras Cafe. It is about CBFC discriminating
against my film when granting it A-certificate," he added.
Shahid, a
biopic on slain human rights activist and advocate Shahid Azmi, hardly had any
violent scenes, wrote Mehta. He blames its poor box office numbers on the
A-certificate.
"Madras
Cafe has scenes of violence and these are quite graphic. Yet it was granted a
U/A certificate. What was so violent about Shahid?" he tweeted.
"The
CBFC cannot pretend to be liberal and strict based on criteria best known to
them. My film's business was jeopardized because of CBFC."
The Dus
Kahaniyaan director feels that the censor board should have been more sensitive
to Shahid as it is an "important story".
"Shahid
deserved a U/A certificate and a tax free status. It is an important story.
Instead, it had an 'A' certificate and overpriced tickets," he posted.
"Discrimination
is a function of financial muscle. The CBFC and its selective liberalism is
testimony to that. The outdated cinematograph act is strictly applicable to
films without stars or big budgets. For others the CBFC is liberal and
broad-minded," wrote Mehta.
He also
shared the censor board's response to his RTI query on Twitter, which stated:
"Since the film was given U/A certificate, ie the scenes of kissing and
action were allowed with parental guidance."
"U/A
certificate itself cautions the parents that there may be certain visuals which
they may or may not like their children below 12 years of age to see. Accordingly,
the committee decided to give a 'U/A' certificate. Many films in the past which
were certified as 'U/A' have visuals of action and kissing."
But Mehta
doesn't seem to be satisfied with the reason.
"Shahid
had no kissing, had very little violence and we offered to replace/mute
expletives. Yet we were told it had to get a 'A' certificate," wrote the
director, adding that he is "filing many RTIs for films certified by CBFC
in 2013".
"CBFC
must be exposed for its double standards. Any suggestions for films?"
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