Censor trouble for The Forest

Despite being the youngest director nominee for the Oscars for his film Little Terrorist (2005), and a National Award winner for Inshallah Football (2010), director Ashvin Kumar’s thriller The Forest, has cleared certification for release only in English.

Despite being the youngest director nominee for the Oscars for his film Little Terrorist (2005), and a National Award winner for Inshallah Football (2010), director Ashvin Kumar’s thriller The Forest, has cleared certification for release only in English. “Until we received this certification, we couldn’t have applied for censor certification in Hindi. The Hindi certification has been applied for and is yet to be cleared,” says Kumar.

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This Javed Jafferi-Nandana Sen starrer, which is scheduled to release today, is loosely based on Jim Corbett’s writings and exploits. Ashvin says, “The story, which mirrors a primeval jungle, talks about a love triangle and an animal within man. Amidst the love story, we are trying to impress upon the viewer the risks involved in playing with nature. When we mess with nature, it strikes back harshly.”

About the censor trouble Ashvin says, “People at the top of the censor board, like Leela Samson and Pankaja Thakur are well-intentioned. Unfortunately, the Indian censorship system clamps down on anything that is politically incorrect, the brunt of which my last film Inshallah Football suffered.”

Ashvin reiterates that his film is a ‘masala’ entertainer. He says, “Everyone is only interested in talking about the censor issue. The fact that Thierry le Portier (Gladiator, Two Brothers) and his two leopards were specially flown down from Paris for the role of the man-eating predator, or the ecological aspect of the film is not talked about at all.”