Censor Board will not tolerate abuse, says new chief

Change is the only thing that is constant but at the Central Board of Film Certification CBFC the more things change the more they remain the same Pahlaj Nihalani the new chief of CBFC mdash also called Censor Board mdash has floated a new set of guidelines on certifying films with abusive and violent contentPahlaj Nihalani said he will not allow any abusive words in filmsThe notification which has been sent to regional officers of the Board details a set of abuses in both Hindi and English which will be considered objectionable in films that may have otherwise gotten a lsquoUrsquo or lsquoUArsquo certificates see box ldquoCertain cuss words and abusive words have been shortlisted and will not be passed A notification on the same has been sent to regional officers across the countryrdquo Nihalani told midday He added that such words cannot be used for the ldquoheck of itrdquo ldquoThere needs to be some context to using themrdquo he saidThis implies that even an abuse or two in an otherwise innocuous film will land filmmakers an lsquoArsquo certificate taking away a huge share of family audiences and people under 18 years of ageNihalanirsquos stance on violence against women is also clear ldquoShowing women being tortured should be discouraged in cinema Besides any scene depicting abuse of a woman will not be allowed to passrdquo he said Using abuses and derogatory terms against women especially when uttered by a male will not be entertained Sexual words and their connotations ndash lsquomaarnarsquo lsquolenarsquo mdash will also be censoredldquoI am not going to allow the use of abusive words Itrsquos not me who is saying it this is clearly mentioned in the guidelines The previous officials allowed it and it only added to the corruption in the board I have come here to eradicate it One cannot allow anything in the name of realistic cinemardquo Nihalani told this paperAs far as the big R mdash religion mdash is concerned Nihalani said ldquoWe will be sensitising our members on subjects which deal with religious issues and make sure that the right people are there to certify a film We will make sure no religious sentiments are hurtrdquo he stated The film producer spoke against the background of the recent controversy over the film PK which Hindu religious groups had claimed hurt their sentimentsIn fact it was ldquoreligious sentimentsrdquo which led to Nihalanirsquos appointment when MSG the film featuring Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan the leader of Dera Sacha Sauda was cleared by the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal FCAT after having been rejected by the examining and revising committees of CBFC The committees had deemed that the film apart from being a selfadvertisement and promoting blind faith also hurt religious sentiments The quick certification of MSG had led to an exodus from the Censor Board beginning with the chairperson Leela SamsonSamson in her resignation had cited ldquointerference coercion and corruption of panel members and officers of the organisation who are appointed by the Ministry and having to manage an organisation whose Board has not met for over nine months as the Ministry had lsquono fundsrsquo to permit the meeting of membersrdquoTalking of his other plans Nihalani said ldquoThere are plans to start a Tatkal section for certification of films on short notice But the fees for them would be different This proposal has also been made to the ministry and we are awaiting their opinion on itrdquoThe new boss also wants to bring in an online application system for certification in order to ensure ldquocomplete transparencyrdquo All of these plans are subject to clearance from the IampB ministry