Sensor
Board has a clear eye on the content as well on the promos of the movies; these
were the words of Ms Leela Samson, Chairperson, Central Board of Film
Certification. She was in Amity University, Madhya Pradesh for a guest lecture on ‘Statutory Body CBFC: Its Duties and
Responsibilities’. Dr Sumit Narula,
Deputy Director, Amity School of Communication took her interview during for
Global Times during her visit to the university. Excerpts of the interview are
following:
Q1: What are your views on the
working of the Central Board of Film Certification?
Answer:
The working of the CBFC is very transparent and clear. We have also improved our
system by giving the link for the online uploading of the films for the
directors. This has helped us a lot in cutting time for clearing the movie.
About the panels, I would say that there are various panels to approve the
films and every panel member is very much qualified to do his/her work
carefully.
Q2: How many categories of
certificates are there for Filmmakers?
Answer:
At present, there are four types of certificates
Certificate
|
Name
|
Meaning
|
U
|
Universal
|
Unrestricted
Public Exhibition throughout India, suitable for all age groups. Films under
this category should not upset children over 4. Such films may contain
educational, social or family-oriented themes. Films under this category may
also contain fantasy violence and/or mild bad language.
|
UA
|
Parental
Guidance
|
All
ages admitted, but it is advised that children below 12 be accompanied by a
parent as the theme or content may be considered intense or inappropriate for young
children.
Films under this category may contain mature themes, sexual references, mild
sex scenes, violence with brief gory images and/or infrequent use of crude
language.
|
A
|
Adults
Only
|
Restricted
to adult audiences (18 years or over). Nobody below the age of 18 may
buy/rent an A-rated DVD,
VHS, UMD or watch a film in the cinema
with this rating. Films under this category may contain adult/disturbing
themes, frequent crude language, brutal violence with blood and gore, strong
sex scenes and/or scenes of drug abuse which is considered unsuitable for minors.
|
S
|
Restricted
to any special class of persons
|
This
rating signifies that the film is meant for a specialised audience, such as
doctors.
|
Q3: Movies like Grand Masti are not family
movies, how can this get approval from the board?
Answer:
Any film which comes to us for certification is being watched and scrutinized
by a Board. After watching the movie if the board passes the movie it
necessarily will not come to the chairperson for approval because the board has
already approved that. The film can get certificate after being approved by the
board itself.
Q4: Sometimes there is controversy
after releasing the movie, what will be the strategy of the CBFC then?
Answer:
If there is some problem in the movie after the release, we definitely look
into the matter and can also edit the scenes if required.
Q5: You are a prolific Bharatnatyam
dancer, instructor and choreographer, how do you find time in your busy
schedule for all these now?
Answer:
I do not forget to do Bharatnatyam everyday early in the mornings. It is in my
blood to do so after all I am a Bharatnatyam dancer first and then a
chairperson.
Q6: What are the limitations you see
in CBFC?
Answer:
My primary contention is that the board is a certification board and not a
censor board as is commonly misunderstood. I also stressed upon the age old
dilemma on how to safeguard the fundamental right of self expression of a film
producer while respecting the sentiments of India’s bewildering diversity. About
the limitations of the Board, I would say that on the one hand it
has to deal with archaic laws and on the other there is a plethora of films
that need to be certified at short notices and there is not adequate man power
to do so.
Post a Comment