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Exclusive | Pallavi Joshi on CBFC guidelines: I have no intention of curbing art and expression while on the board
CBFC board member Pallavi Joshi advocates for unrestricted expression, emphasizing that art should challenge viewers
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The revised film-certification guidelines for the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), announced on September 16, have brought the debate around artistic freedom back into focus. As the newly constituted board begins its term, actor-filmmaker and CBFC board member Pallavi Joshi tells us she does not see her role as one that would curb artistic expression.
“I am personally against any kind of restrictions on art and expression,” she shares, adding, “I do not, as an artist, as a performer, as a filmmaker, like to be told that I shouldn’t be doing this and I shouldn’t be doing that. And I have no intention of doing that while on the board.”
Joshi, however, acknowledges that any new framework can reveal gaps once it is put into practice. “Anytime any new law is put in place, as you go forward, you realise that there are loopholes in it and it needs to be amended in certain ways,” she says. “You see a lot of changes happening over the course of time until the law becomes comfortable for everyone. And I think we hope to achieve that with the given guidelines. We hope to come to a place where art and expression is not curbed. At least I would like to reach there,” she elaborates.
The 57-year-old also believes art should challenge audiences rather than simply entertain them. “I think art is a medium which should disturb people. It is not just song and dance. It has to be romance also. It has to be biopics also. It has to be thought-provoking also. It has to give you a jolt sometimes. Sometimes it has to slap you awake from your slumber,” she says.
Joshi reiterates that artistic expression can take multiple forms. “Art can be defined in many forms and there should not be any restriction on any kind of expression of art,” she says, while adding that it is still too early to comment on how the revised guidelines will work in practice.
The new CBFC guidelines retain the 1991 framework, with additions on drug-related warnings and age-based markers. The newly constituted board has not yet held its first meeting, Joshi says, adding that its members are yet to discuss how they will approach the framework.
