Filmmaker Prakash Jha, whose production Lipstick Under My Burkha has been denied certificate by censor board, says the film industry will keep facing such troubles as long as “a set of people” has the freedom to censor the content.
The film, directed by Alankrita Shrivastava, was denied certification by Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for allegedly being “lady oriented” and containing “abusive words”.
“This problem [of censorship] will persist till the time the power and freedom to censor, or edit are given to someone. CBFC consists of some members who have their own thinking and they interpret the guidelines according to that. They take the decisions according to their own likes and dislikes.
“The problem stays irrespective of who the CBFC members are. It’s not because of Pahalaj Nihalani. This can be solved only when we get past censoring and talk about certification,” Jha said.
The National-award winning filmmaker said certificate to films should be given based on the age group and the “power to censor the content should not be there.”
“If certain things don’t fit into the parameters of the censor board, they get them into wrong context. These are human errors. I think my film has a very beautiful story about the women living in that section of a society which people have felt but never told or heard of,” he added.
Lipstick Under My Burkha stars Konkona Sensharma, Ratna Pathak Shah, Aahana Kumra, Plabita Borthakur, Sushant Singh, Vikrant Massey and Shashank Arora.
On Saturday, director Kabir Khan joined Farhan Akhtar, Shyam Benegal and Ashoke Pandit in slamming the CBFC for its decision.
“It’s a strange situation and problem lies when these kind of incidents are happening regularly. Watching a film is a voluntary act. It is not forced on anyone and two-three people sitting out there in CBFC cannot take decision for the entire society, which is absolutely ridiculous,” Kabir said at the screening of short film “The Strange Smile” here on Friday.
“We say India is a global power, but I think global powers don’t act like this. They think society is so fragile that after seeing a particular film, our values can be damaged. Now the time has come for the industry people to formally stand up against this and shout for their rights,” he added.
CBFC listed the reasons for denial of the certificate in a letter where it said: “The story is lady oriented, their fantasy about life. There are continuous sexual scenes, abusive words, audio pornography and a bit sensitive touch about one particular section of society, hence film refused under guidelines.”
Directed by Alankrita Shrivastava, the film speaks about four women, from different sections of society who are seeking freedom and want to fulfil their desires. The film stars Konkona Sen Sharma, Ratna Pathak, Aahana Kumra and Plabita Borthakur in lead roles along with Sushant Singh, Vikrant Massey, Shashank Arora, Vaibbhav Tatwawdi and Jagat Singh Solanki.
The film has been screened at various film festivals and has won the Spirit of Asia Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival and the Oxfam Award for Best Film on Gender Equality at the Mumbai Film Festival.
