CBFC goes easy; no cut for note-ban criticism in films

KOLKATA: Is the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) going easy on films that have dialogues critical of note ban? If CBFC's list of cuts and beeps are to be considered -from `Shunyoto' to `Meghnad Bodh Rahasya' and more recently , `Chaya O Chobi'-there seems to be a distinct change in approach.In a span of five months, CBFC has moved from recommending six cuts in `Shunyota' to no cut in `Chaya O Chobi'.
A CBFC source said, “It is not fair to portray CBFC officials as being vindictive. The advisory panel members see the film in totality and then give the cuts keeping in mind the guidelines.“
In April. 2017 when Pahlaj Nihalani was still the CBFC chief, Suvendu Ghosh's `Shunyota, which is India's first film on demonetisation, got a UA certificate after agreeing to six cuts. The plot of `Shunyota' revolves around a writer, who traces the catastrophic effect of the note ban in three stories. At the end of the film when the author is asked if he supports demonetisation, he replies in the negative.
In July this year, CBFC allowed Anik Datta's `Meghnad Bodh Rahasya' to retain a dialogue showing a blink-andyou-miss character ruing over the fact that the government he had voted for has taken away all his money . However, a month later, Kaushik Ganguly's `Chaya O Chobi' didn't get a single cut even though the film's first half criticises note ban. “I suppose, the CBFC didn't feel my movie was a protest against the central government. Besides, we didn't support black money ,“ Ganguly said.
When Ganguly was asked if Prasoon Joshi's entry as the CBFC chief had anything to do with this change of heart, he said, “Prasoon had just joined when I applied.The praise for clearing an uncut film should go to the local CBFC officials.“