[Reader-list] censeless censors

[nilanjanb at 123india.com]

 Friends,
I think one article by Raju Raman from Calcutta is
relevant to understand the background of censorship. 
Nilanjan

CUTTING EDGE?
SENSELESS CENSORS


We claim to be living in an era of reforms. Yet, when
it comes to questions of ‘morality’ or ‘criticism’, we
prefer status quo. We exhibit a mindset that is
anything but reform-friendly, a mindset that has
stagnated through centuries in the swamp of colonized
indoctrination. And the worst victim of this has been
the magical art form of moving images, which has
revolutionized every walk of life for over a century.
Since not very long after Dhundiraj Govind Phalke’s
offering Raja Harishchandra (1913) right up to the just
released Hatath Neerar Jonnye (Suddenly, for Neera) by
Subrata Sen, the censor’s scissors have been constantly
haunting Indian cinema like Damocles’ sword, more often
for the wrong or even irrelevant reasons.

Ironically, a couple of years after D W Griffith had
created waves with his Intolerance (1916) at the peak
of the First World War, the then rulers of our
subcontinent gave vent to their intolerance towards
unbridled freedom of expression in cinema by
promulgating the Cinematograph Act in the year 1918. At
that time this Act had two parts. One part was meant to
regulate the licensing of cinemas, while the other part
made provisions for censorship. However, this
censorship part was made a state subject, with the
responsibility entrusted to the five centres at Bombay,
Calcutta, Madras, Rangoon and Lahore. In the year 1922,
entertainment tax was introduced for the first time on
cinema tickets. It started in the state of West Bengal
as educational cess, a term that has been haunting us
for other reasons since the Finance Minister P
Chidambaram presented the budget in Parliament on 08
July 2004. The Cinematograph Act in its original avatar
was however rather liberal in the censorship
regulations, as one can see in the films made in the
1920s and 1930s.

Historical developments led to the partition of the
country, but also to the emergence of an independent
India facing the challenges of self-governance and
self-regulation. With the Nehruvian brand of socialism
gaining momentum, several changes became necessary.
Consequently, on 21 March 1952 the earlier Act gave way
to its successor – The Cinematograph Act, 1952. The
bitter truth is that despite some cosmetic revisions to
the guidelines in 1983 and 1994, the original manual
still continues to be the guiding bible for the
mandarins who rule the roost in the Central Board of
Film Certification. On paper though, the guidelines
amended up to 07 May 1983 clearly laid down that the
Board of Film Censors shall be guided by the following
principles:
The objectives of film censorship will be to ensure
that –
a)	the medium of film remains responsible and sensitive
to the values and standards of society ;
b)	artistic expression and creative freedom are not
unduly curbed ; and
c)	censorship is responsive to social change.

Incidentally, it was also the year 1952 that ushered in
the first edition of the International Film Festival of
India, giving our filmmakers and film buffs exposure to
cinema from different parts of the world. The seeds for
a countrywide film society movement had also already
been sown in 1948 with the formation of the Calcutta
Film Society through the initiative and under the
stewardship of Satyajit Ray, Chidananda Dasgupta, R P
Gupta and a few others. The subsequently founded apex
body of film societies in the country, the Federation
of Film Societies of India, with Satyajit Ray as the
President and the then Minister of Information and
Broadcasting Indira Gandhi as one of the
Vice-Presidents, succeeded in extracting some
privileges from the Central Government. For one, it
could apply for and obtain exemption from censorship
for films to be screened for its members, a privilege
that it enjoys even today. Also, on par with other
foreign films, Indian films being entered in the
International Film Festival of India and other
recognised festivals in the country were exempted from
the mandatory censorship certificate otherwise required
for public screening. 

All this received a severe jolt when the guidelines for
entry to the Mumbai International Film Festival for
shorts and documentaries scheduled for February this
year made it mandatory for Indian entries to have a
censor certificate. The reason was that the film War
and Peace by Anand Patwardhan, which had won an award
at the last edition of the festival, had subsequently
run into problems with the censors, resulting in a
long-drawn court battle, which Anand won, thanks to the
judiciary. Following countrywide protests, signature
campaigns and boycott threats the organisers relented
and withdrew the stipulation, only to use dirty
backdoor tactics to keep out specific films with the
endorsement of a selection panel constituted, tutored
and instructed by them. Which brings us to the basic
question of the credentials, competence and integrity
of persons who are appointed to such panels and
committees.

As we are more specifically addressing the issue of
censorship here, let us restrict ourselves to this
area. Having had the ‘privilege’ of serving as a
‘distinguished’ member of the Central Board of Film
Censors at the regional level for two terms in the late
eighties and early nineties, I could share a few
thoughts with you. The task is certainly not an
enviable one. One has to often sit through hours of
mindless torture inflicted by the filmmakers. After a
couple of such sessions, truly competent persons conclude that
it is not worth their while. The ones who do go
willingly and regularly are people with time in their
hands – among others, senior citizens and retired
academicians who take a nap while the film is running,
only to wake up in time to side with anyone initiating
some objections. These initiators are often ‘planted’
people catering to the vested interests of the powers
that be. It is a vicious circle. Which is why I
fervently believe that in today’s scenario in the 21st
century, when almost anything and everything is only a
few mouse-clicks away and easily accessible to young
and old alike, it is high time we do away with
institutions like censorship, which may or may not have
served some purpose in the past, but is certainly
redundant today.

We have embraced globalisation, we talk of fulfilling
the Millennium Development Goals by the year 2015, we
nurture dreams of becoming a developed nation in the
near future, we move around with an air of ‘Hum kisi se
kam nahin’. Well, let us then shed our inhibitions and
hypocrisy, let us not merely grow old but grow up, let
us start believing in the capability and maturity of
our new generation of filmmakers, who with their wide
exposure in the global context will soon develop their
own check-valves according to the needs of the day. Or
else, the path of reforms we tread will be a
treacherous and slippery one and progress would be like
the monkey climbing up a greased pole – four feet up
and then slide two feet down.

S V Raman
svraman at cal2.vsnl.net.in