The Mamata Banerjee led administration came under fire yet again after a review committee of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) issued a ‘refusal of certificate’ to a film Kangal Malsat for being critical of the Trinamool government and Mamata Banerjee led movements.
“The way the departure of Tata Company was shown in the film it seemed to malign or at least look down upon a significant movement of civic society,” reads the letter issued by the letter issued by a revising committee (RC) of CBFC.
Under the chairmanship of filmmaker Haranath Chakraborty, the RC also had objection with “the way the honourable CM’s oath-taking ceremony was shown”. It said: “It seems to portray distorted history and may hurt many common people of West Bengal and create sensation (violence).”
Chakraborty is known to be close to Banerjee and functions as a bridge between the state government and the artists’ pool of Tollywood.
“This is a ridiculous and politically motivated move. The way this government is trying to suppress the voice of creative minds is totally uncalled for. It’s tough for me to accept such moral policing,” director Suman Mukhopadhyay said.
The film has now been sent to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal, which would hear Mukhopadhyay on March 4. According to Mukhopadhyay, the film is not only an adaptation of Nabarun Bhattacharya’s novel with the same title but also an extension from it. Singer-turned rebel Trinamool Congress MP Kabir Suman is the main character in the film.
{{/usCountry}}The film has now been sent to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal, which would hear Mukhopadhyay on March 4. According to Mukhopadhyay, the film is not only an adaptation of Nabarun Bhattacharya’s novel with the same title but also an extension from it. Singer-turned rebel Trinamool Congress MP Kabir Suman is the main character in the film.
{{/usCountry}}Besides him, Kaushik Ganguly and Kamalika Banerjee also played vital characters in this controversial celluloid venture. “We need to see if the censor board has the right to do this. There are many films, which are given fit certificate despite use of slangs. TATA has left Bengal so how can speaking about it now foment violence,” questioned Kaushik Ganguly.
Theater actor, director and currently the education minister in Trinamool government, Bratya Basu, came out in the defence of the government. “I myself am an artist and I am for the artistic independence. But while talking about artistic freedom we must also consider the medium of work. For theatre we do not have any censor board but for films we have and for the sake of artistic freedom films cannot flout the law of the land.
I have heard that the film was not given clearance because it from the first reel to the last it is full of abusive words. The censor board has nothing to do with any political party or government it works on its own guideline so the government should not be blamed if it found a film unfit for screening,” Basu said.
Earlier, the state government had also clamped down on the screening of newly-released film ‘Teen Kanya’ (Three Girls) for portraying the controversial Park Street rape incident and also the story of the IPS officer reminding the audience of Damayanti Sen.