Why are only films censored so severely? Imtiaz Ali

Imtiaz, who is known for his love stories such as Cocktail (2012), Rockstar (2011) and Highway (2014), is coming up with a love story again, and says that he is very comfortable making films in the same genre.

The Central Board of Film Certification’s (CBFC) decision to shorten the length of a kiss in the latest James Bond film has attracted negative reactions from a host of film personalities. And filmmaker Imtiaz Ali shares a similar opinion. “Why are movies the only ones that are being censored so severely. The same audience, which watches movies, is also consuming the same kind of things that you are trying to ban in movies, in other ways,” says Ali, whose upcoming film has also been treated similarly by the Censor Board. In his film, a kiss between actors Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone had to be shortened because the board found it too lengthy. “I would like to say that censorship laws should be lenient towards movies because at least movies are announcing that there is this thing (kiss) so don’t take your kid for it. But when it comes on the internet or TV, then what? So, we should be a little easy on films,” adds Ali who feels that this kind of censorship only on films holds no meaning.

Filmmaker Imtiaz Ali.

However, he has come to terms with the snips made to his film. “Every filmmaker resents every change that anyone asks him to make to his film. And so do I. But I cannot cast a broad-based judgement on the way a country should run. I do know that there is a Censor Board and that it will take a call. I can’t say that there should be no censoring. The board members are doing their job, just like we are doing ours,” he says.

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