Tightening the noose? B-Town reacts as Censor Board introduces new rules

The Central Board of Film Certification CBFC has decided to delete partially objectionable scenes rather than blur them as many filmmakers are not implementing them even after their directivesA scene in The Xpose featuring Sonali Raut had a direct reference to the controversial film Satyam Shivam Sundaram 1978 which featured Zeenat Aman in a similar attire However the Censor Board passed the scene without cutsCBFC has also stated in its communication addressed to film bodies that it will now mute objectionable dialogues as opposed to beeping them out On Monday producersrsquo associations shared this notification with their membersIn a sequence showcasing actress Zoya Afroz running on a beach the Censor Board objected to the exposed cleavage before deciding to blur itVikas Mohan senior vice president of the Indian Film and Television Producers Council says ldquoWe have informed our members that due to noncompliance of suggestions by many filmmakers the CBFC has stopped the practice of blurring objectionable visuals from now onThe makers of Ek Villain were told by the Censor Board to mute an offensive word and get their film passed with seven cutsIt means that if CBFC partially objects to a scene or part of a visual in a scene it will no more be blurred but will be edited out completelyrsquorsquoUnder instructions from CBFC several scenes in Jackpot featuring Sachiin Joshi and Sunny Leone were blurredIt maybe recalled here that the Censor Board had asked the makers of Dedh Ishqiya to blur out Arshad Warsi in a brothel scene but it later found out that its instructions were not being implemented A similar thing happened with Himesh Reshammiyarsquos production The Xposeacute as wellCBFC had asked the makers of Dedh Ishqiya to blur out a scene involging Arshad Warsi in a brothel but it was later found mdash by the Board mdash that the directive was not implementedIs legal action the solutionProducerdirector Vipul Shah who is one of the most vocal filmmakers in the film industry says that legal action should be taken against those who donrsquot follow the Censor Boardrsquos directives He says ldquoIf filmmakers violate directives of the board take legal action against them But I also see that the CBFC is getting regressive for reasons best known to themBackground music vs MutingFilmmaker David Dhawan who has never faced problems with the CBFC feels that every time someone new takes charge a fresh set of rules comes into play ldquoBlurring makes no difference and deletion should not disturb the film Also I would suggest that instead of muting the dialogues filmmaker should be allowed to replace them with background musicrdquoFollow the rulesVikram Bhattrsquos film Hate Story 2 faced problems with the CBFC over a song but he agreed to make changes Bhatt says ldquoFilmmakers should follow the Censor Boardrsquos diktats once they have agreed to the cuts You can approach certain forums if you donrsquot want to accept their cuts but if you say yes you can not cheatrdquoWanted Clear guidelinesAnurag Kashyap says that the CBFC should have clear guidelines about blurring out things as opposed to cutting the whole thing out ldquoThat is but a random rule so if itrsquos a portion in the middle of a conversation you can not cut it Blurring is what they do worldwiderdquo he saysStriking a balanceAnubhav Sinharsquos films have faced hurdles when shown to the CBFC He says ldquoThe degree of exposure that people who watch films under lsquoUrsquo or lsquoUArsquo certification have has changed dramatically We need to find a reasonable balance between what is allowed and where the society has reached todayFreedom of choiceMilan Luthria deleted and beeped out many scenes in the televised version of The Dirty Picture He feels that the Censor Board and filmmakers should decide together about the audiencesrsquo cultural maturity ldquoFilms can be made accordingly We are a young aware country Can the viewer not choose what they want to seerdquo he says