CBFC’s latest move: No kissing or peeing
Board tells director of Margarita, With A Straw that they have ‘moral guidelines to follow’.
Despite assurances from the Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore that the Central Board of Film Certification is a ‘certifying body’ not a ‘censoring one,’ the Board continues to wield its scissors on films.
And its latest casualty is Shonali Bose’s award winning film Margarita, With A Straw, a coming-of-age story of a young girl suffering from cerebral palsy, played by Kalki Koechlin, who comes to terms with her queer sexuality.
The members also asked Bose to edit out a scene when Kalki shows the middle finger. Another sequence shows a male character removing her undergarments so that she could use the washroom and she then proceeds to urinate. This too riled the Censors.
“I told them this is reality, not titillation. My cousin sister suffers from cerebral palsy and when nobody else is around; her father has to take off her underwear so she can use the loo. She will pee her pants otherwise,” said the filmmaker.
“The film will go to the Revising Committee now. I hope better sense prevails as the EC , to my shock, told me they had moral guidelines to follow,” an exasperated Shonali told Mirror.
Is she hopeful that the Revising Committee will pass the film without any cuts?
“I’m not going to settle for a single cut and will go to the Tribunal if required. It’s a sensitive film and the CBFC should see it in the context it’s made. Fortunately, my producers are backing me in this fight,” she said.
Despite assurances from the Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore that the Central Board of Film Certification is a ‘certifying body’ not a ‘censoring one,’ the Board continues to wield its scissors on films.
And its latest casualty is Shonali Bose’s award winning film Margarita, With A Straw, a coming-of-age story of a young girl suffering from cerebral palsy, played by Kalki Koechlin, who comes to terms with her queer sexuality.
After watching the film, the Examining Committee (EC) asked the makers to tone down a kissing scene between Kalki and Sayani Gupta. “There is a 12-second long kiss between the two characters, but the CBFC had problems with it. They want me to reduce it to just a few seconds. I explained that as it is their first kiss, it can’t be that brief.”
The members also asked Bose to edit out a scene when Kalki shows the middle finger. Another sequence shows a male character removing her undergarments so that she could use the washroom and she then proceeds to urinate. This too riled the Censors.
“I told them this is reality, not titillation. My cousin sister suffers from cerebral palsy and when nobody else is around; her father has to take off her underwear so she can use the loo. She will pee her pants otherwise,” said the filmmaker.
“The film will go to the Revising Committee now. I hope better sense prevails as the EC , to my shock, told me they had moral guidelines to follow,” an exasperated Shonali told Mirror.
Is she hopeful that the Revising Committee will pass the film without any cuts?
“I’m not going to settle for a single cut and will go to the Tribunal if required. It’s a sensitive film and the CBFC should see it in the context it’s made. Fortunately, my producers are backing me in this fight,” she said.
