‘Film fraternity should elect censor board chief’
The chairperson of the Censor Board for Film Certification (CBFC) should be elected by the film fraternity and not appointed by the government, believes filmmaker Mukesh Bhatt.
The chairperson of the Censor Board for Film Certification (CBFC) should be elected by the film fraternity and not appointed by the government, believes filmmaker Mukesh Bhatt.
“All those who have been appointed so far have no stand of their own and turned out to be puppets in the hands of the government. We have a producers guild, which is an elected body, which can nominate of its member for the post,” Bhatt, who is vice-president of the Film and Television Producers’ Guild, said during a debate on censorship at the ongoing Mumbai Film Festival on Friday.
He stressed for the need to have a cordial working relationship with the CBFC.
Bhatt recalled that in 1971 his film Manzilay Aur Bhi Hain ran into censor trouble because it showed a prostitute on the run with a convict and bearing his child out of wedlock.
“Since it was a taboo subject, the film was not allowed. I had to fight for over a year,” he said.
When his Sadak was given an A-certificate, it was called for reexamination in Delhi and told that he cannot show a eunuch on screen by filmmaker Shakti Samanta who was the censor board chief then. “I moved the court and won the case,” he said.
Bhatt said when Asha Parekh was the CBFC head, his film Zakhm had to face censor hurdles over use of saffron bands.
“I was told to change the colour to black,” he said. But the same film, which was said to be inciting communal passion, won the National Award for Best Film on National Integration, he said.