E-Paper
One flies over the censor?s nest
There is something deeply disturbing about the report that the three chiefs of the armed forces and the defence minister were asked to sit in judgment of a movie made by Aamir Khan.
There is something deeply disturbing about the report that the three chiefs of the armed forces and the defence minister were asked to sit in judgment of a movie made by Aamir Khan. Equally objectionable is Air Marshal P.S. Ahluwalia’s certificate “that the Air Force had no objection” to any part of the film. Neither he, nor any other uniformed person should be placed in a position to decide which movie is good and which is bad for the country. Instead of trying to bully the film-makers, the Air Force would be well advised to take a cue from Pranab Mukherjee who declared after the screening that he did not “understand films” and that it was not his, but the Censor Board’s job to decide whether or not the film passed muster. The three chiefs and their boss would have been welcome to attend the premiere of the movie, but most certainly not to decide on whether it depicts the Air Force in this or that light.
The Censor Board is an anachronism that should have been abolished long ago. And in any case, it was highly improper of it to involve the armed forces brass and the minister in deciding on the merits of a movie. By this logic, films will have to get the clearance of the Medical Council if they are about doctors or the CII if businessmen and industrialists are involved. Arrogating to yourself the right to decide what is good for the public is an insidious thing, and you never know where it will end up.
We are not too many years past since the Shiv Sena and VHP thugs prevented the shooting of Deepa Mehta’s Water because it was allegedly against Hindus. Aamir Khan had to face the ire of alleged descendents of Mangal Pandey for depicting him in poor light. Let us be blunt about this. We totally oppose the idea of censorship of any kind, it goes against the grain of the open society that we are.
