Three films struck off OCFF line-up

An unprecedented form of censorship has raised its ugly head at the ongoing film festival, says Saibal Chatterjee.

A clandestine and unprecedented form of censorship has raised its ugly head at the ongoing 7th Osian’s-Cinefan Film Festival (OCFF), causing widespread concern among delegates attending the ten-day event.

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The information and broadcasting ministry has refused permission to the OCFF organizers for screening three films on varied grounds – Partha Sengupta’s Hawa Aane De, Varun Khanna’s Beyond Honour and a critically acclaimed Thai film touted as an Asian Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

The Paris-based Sengupta’s film, funded primarily with French money, has been deemed by the ministry to be an Indian film and, therefore, ineligible for a public screening in the absence of a censor certificate.

Los Angeles-based NRI filmmaker Varun Khanna’s Beyond Honour, which is set in an Arab-American setting, deals with the issue of female genital mutilation. The ministry feels that the theme is too dark, delicate and controversial for Indian sensibilities.

A still from Rakesh Sharma's Final Solution

In response to this arbitrary form of censorship, some filmmakers attending the 7th OCFF have resolved to sign a joint appeal and send it to the information and broadcasting minister, S. Jaipal. Reddy. The memorandum, to be submitted at the end of the festival, will demand a thorough review of the question of censorship of festival films.

Says documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan: “Film festivals should be preserved as a space where films, censored or uncensored, can be freely screened. Bureaucrats should not have right to decide what festivals goers can or cannot see.”

Veteran Mumbai cinematographer-filmmaker Govind Nihalani, too, suggests a concerted initiative on the part of the fraternity to resist all official attempts to gag free cinematic expression. “Censorship is a weapon of control. The state won’t give it up without a fight,” he says.

According to documentary filmmaker Rakesh Sharma, whose Final Solution, a film on the Gujarat riots, was screened last year at Osian’s-Cinefan festival without clearance from the censors, the battle won’t be easy.

“The government has changed, but the members appointed to the Central Board of Film Certification by the previous regime haven’t. A CBFC member has a two-year term,” says Sharma. In any case, he adds, the problem isn’t about which party is in power. It’s about cleaning up the system.

While none of these filmmakers is in favour of the censorship mechanism being scrapped altogether, they are asking for a far more liberal framework. “A censor certificate gives me legal protection,” says Patwardhan. “If censorship is done away with, filmmakers will be at the mercy of the lunatic fringe of our society.” 

Indications are that the committee appointed by Jaipal Reddy to examine and recommend reforms in the censorship laws is likely to strike off the “offence to sensibilities” clause from the guidelines. Only broad issues like fomentation of hate and threat to national security and public order would stay in the “not permitted’ list.

If that does indeed happen, on what grounds can a film like Beyond Honour, which addresses a subject of import, be refused permission to play at a festival? Interestingly, Beyond Honour was screened without any hindrance at the last Mumbai International Film Festival.

Asks a member of the OCFF organising team: “How can Delhi filmgoers be prevented from viewing a film that Mumbaikars were allowed to watch?” Indeed, strange are the ways of the arbiters.