In a meeting with a delegation of actors, directors and producers from Bollywood, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, clarified that the job of the Central Board of Film Certification or CBFC was to certify and not censor. He went as far as to say that the CBFC might even be rechristened a 'ratings' board.
Mr Rathore was discussing restrictions placed recently by the Board on films after 23 Hindi and English words were made off-limits for filmmakers on orders of censor board chief Pahlaj Nihalani. The Bollywood contingent included actors Aamir Khan, Vidya Balan, Anushka Sharma, Riteish Deshmukh and Shabana Azmi, filmmakers Anurag Kashyap, Vishal Bhardwaj, Rajkumar Hirani, Karan Johar, Kiran Rao and Ramesh Sippy, lyricist Gulzar, Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt, producers Ekta Kapoor and film critic Anupama Chopra.
At the meeting, Mr Rathore said, "No one individual can decide certification. There is an examination committee and a review committee. No one person can hijack the system."
Aamir Khan said, "We are very happy with the Minister's response. He has promised to address the concerns we all had regarding censorship."
Producer Mukesh Bhatt stated, "We were feeling vulnerable, restless and insecure. We expressed our concerns and the minister assured us that the government will co-operate. We hope to interact with the government more and be like family."
Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani did not attend the meeting, which was held at the Sun-n-Sand Hotel in Juhu, the location of several film soirees, mahurats and swimming pool scenes. Mr Rathore will meet Board members at the hotel on March 17.
Some weeks ago, the Censor Board, as the CBFC is also called, outlawed a selection of cuss words in Hindi and English. The ban affected films like Badlapur and Dum Laga Ke Haisha, from which even the word 'lesbian' was excised. Actress and producer Anushka Sharma's new film NH10 was first denied certification by the Board and then passed with nine cuts. The Anurag Kashyap-produced Hunterrr has also undergone several audio cuts.
Last week, cracks appeared in the Censor Board after a strongly-worded letter to Mr Nihalani written by Board member Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi was made public. In the letter, Dr Dwivedi objected to the edits ordered in NH10 because, as he wrote, it had been decided in a previous meeting that the list of banned words would not be implemented without discussion. Earlier, Board member Ashoke Pandit slammed the banning of the words saying he had not been consulted and that it would curb the creative freedom of filmmakers.
The letter followed in the wake of reported internal grumbling within the Censor Board about Mr Nihalani's allegedly autocratic style of functioning. Mr Nihalani took over as head of the Board in January after Leela Samson resigned amid allegations of government interference in the clearing of films.
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