[Reader-list] on anupam kher's views on censorship

[shammi nanda]

Anupam Kher is the new head of the Censor Board. I don’t know the service 
provided by him to BJP, since all those who are now heading cinema related 
institutions are connected visibly to the party. One thing is sure that I 
haven’t heard of him talking anything profound in his public life as an 
actor, but recently his interview in TOI has a few words of wisdom, which I 
would like to discuss.



Whether it is our Khanna Sahib or Hema Malini. Why is it that only 
institutions of Cinema can be headed by people who are neither qualified in 
the traditional sense nor have they been connected to the area of filmmaking 
they are heading. Hema Malini has been an actress but has never made even a 
short film, forget about a full length ‘meaningful’ feature film which is 
one of the jobs of NFDC.

As for Raveena, when the National awards controversy came up and Pradeep 
Krishan resigned from the jury, I was thinking that just because her uncle 
is connected to BJP it was unfair to accuse that the award given to her was 
manipulated. But now If BJP has considered her to be qualified enough to 
head CFSI one starts to question her national award too.  I had read 
somewhere that it was CFSI’s policy to involve kids in the jury in the 
children’s film festival but to make some  ‘kid’ who might not even have 
been an avid Children’s film viewer the head of the institution is 
stretching the policy a bit too far. If their was a condition that the head 
of a cinema institution should have seen minimum two of the films made in 
the past by that institution Hema Malini and Raveena would have failed. 
Though I must say that Hema Malini was ready to learn about meaningful 
cinema as soon as she took the throne of NFDC and there was a film made on 
her dance drama by NFDC.

Why is it that this policy of giving riyasats to the generals who fought for 
the king done so crudely in cinema related institutions. The head of UPSC 
could be a BJP guy but he will have some charade of a background or the 
director of NCERT will atleast be an academician. Till now they haven’t made 
Sanjay Nirupam the head of NCERT saying that his qualification is that he 
was a student so he can design textbooks. Even in other Art and culture 
fields it is not as brazen as they haven’t dared to make someone like Bappi 
Lahiri or Kumar Shanu the head of Sangeet Natak Academy. Not to say that the 
all the present heads of such institutions are the most appropriate ones but 
the choice there is limited unlike film in which any one goes.



According to Kher, out of 350 films Censor Board gets only 3 to 4 get in a 
controversy, which according to him shows that the Censors are liberated. I 
think this figure of four is not even correct as I know of more than four 
films which were refused censor or had been imposed cuts.  For example FTII 
had recently sent around 15 of their video documentary exercises for censor 
and one of them was out rightly refused censor, in effect banned, and two 
other had been unnecessarily asked to delete some dialogues. The film, which 
was refused censor, was about people who have left Gujarat after the riots 
and are living in Pune.  The objection that censor had was that the film 
shows the police and bureaucracy in bad light. To that one can only say that 
the NHRC has questioned the role of police and bureaucracy for a long time 
and even the Supreme Court questioned the Raj Dharma while allowing of 
transfer of some cases outside Gujarat. In a state where Muslim lawyers are 
scared to go to the court, the Ex MPis killed and public prosecutor in so 
many riot cases are VHP terrorists, the police and bureaucracy and even the 
Judiciaries role is questionable. Besides killing of thousands of people in 
the riots is impossible without the collusion of police and bureaucracy. The 
other objection was that the film is biased and tells only one side of the 
story (implying the Muslim angle only). I have seen the film and this 
accusation also seems baseless.  I think if more Muslims were killed, then 
by saying the truth one cannot be called biased. Not just that, there are 
other such films on Gujarat, which have been refused by censors. I think the 
action of censor is akin to not letting the Muslim lawyers reach the courts 
in Gujarat. Whatever the Hindu fundamentalists are doing on the streets of 
Gujarat, the Censor Board is doing the same by following their agenda 
through its powers by not letting the voice of the riot-affected reach the 
people through films. Most cases of Censor Board cuts are not even reported 
in the press so there might not be a controversy in the media all the time 
censors pick their scissors. And even if we agree that very few number of 
films are getting into controversy I think it is because the filmmakers are 
well aware of the Censor Boards working and hardly have the energy to 
experiment or go against the norms.

On replying to a question on bad language he says “if expletives are not 
allowed in an average household then why should they be heard in a film 
meant for the family audience?” That means films are to always talk about 
average households and I am not even sure if there is no domestic violence 
or use of expletives in a an average household in a patriarchal set up.  How 
can he make such a blanket statement, as every dialogue has a context and 
this nonsense of protecting the family from viewing dangerous things is a 
sham and assumes that the expletives can be heard and said by the men but 
women are lesser beings and have to be protected. I don’t think any woman 
would have problem in listening to the expletives used in Bandit Queen and 
can justify them by the context.

On pornographic content   in films he says “ there are video parlors where 
one can rent X rated films and watch them at home. We don’t need to provide 
theaters to watch pornography. We need Money to buy condoms so people don’t 
die of Aids.”   I seriously hope that he knows that even keeping of X rated 
films at video shops is also illegal even though he would not have a second 
thought while himself getting those films. He is fine with this arrangement, 
but sadly this also stinks of class difference where people or rather men 
who do not have access to VCR’s cant see pornography. Probably they are the 
masses or the people from the interiors and cannot digest pornography but 
someone from Pali Hill can.

While talking of the role of Censor Board he seems to be more concerned 
about the people who live in the interiors or small towns. This distinction 
amongst people of those from small towns and interiors with those ‘educated’ 
in the cities, or rather the page three crowd is also elitist. Tomorrow they 
will say that Khajurao cannot be seen by people from interiors or small 
towns. This melodrama of saving the common man comes handy to all 
reactionary forces. Once I had read a columnist of India Today who was 
defending Narmada dam and accusing Medha Patkar of coming in the way of the 
poor villager getting one bulb where his kids will study. Grow up Mr. Kher!

I feel humiliated if I am not considered fit to decide what I want to see 
and have Anupam Kher decide for me. If newspapers, books, Paintings and 
theater are not censored, why is it that films need moral policing? Agreed 
that they are concerned about ‘ dangerous stuff  which once in a while comes 
out but we have the recourse to courts has been done in the case of many 
books. But if you don’t believe in taking recourse to constitutional means 
you have the VHP, (patit pawan sangthana)PPS, Shiv Sena, Durga Vahini,  BJP, 
RSS, Bajrang Dal and so many others who don’t even take any salary and are 
fast to react.

To believe that pornography does not exist in the present days of Internet 
and VCD’s is like thinking that prostitution will not exist if we put checks 
on soliciting and thereby being blind to the reality. For me the amount of 
dangerous stuff that is coming in newspapers, particularily the ones 
sponsored by right wing forces,  is more harmful than any pornographic film. 
Besides I am also concerned about the moral health of all the characters who 
will sit on the Board filtering the films of all kinds of corruption to save 
me. Why make guinea  pigs of our RSS guys. I hope they don’t file a case 
against the state one day like the American soldiers who were made to sit 
near the nuclear test sites and had later got cancer.

He is more concerned about money for buying condoms to prevent AIDS shows 
how uneducated he is as it is not lack of money to buy condoms leading to 
Aids. I hope NSD is also safe in the hands of people like him. When Kher was 
asked in an interview about how he can handle the responsibility of NSD and 
Censor Board, he proposes to stretch 24

hours to 48. Yes, Mr kher, for any position of power You would stretch your 
day and if two more such positions were given to you will stretch your day 
to 72 hours.



Shammi

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He's the fastest Indian.He's Narain Karthikeyan. 
http://server1.msn.co.in/sp03/tataracing/index.asp Will he make it to F1?