CBFC member to Babumoshai Bandookbaaz producer: You’re not a woman if you wear shirt and pants

“After the examining committee watched the film, they made us wait for one hour outside their office. We knew by then that there would raise issues with the film. Anyway, we were called inside and I would really like to point out that these people lack basic decency. The two hours that the discussion, which was actually a one-way argument, went for, we were made to stand. No one offered a seat or even a glass of water. That’s how they treat filmmakers. But what was more astonishing was that during the discussion, a female member of the examining committee asked me, ‘How could you make this film being a woman?’ I replied, ‘Why a woman can’t make a film like this?’ To this, a male member said, ‘But she is not a woman. She is wearing shirt-pants, so, how can she be a woman?’

“Kushan and I were left shocked with his comment. I felt like answering that even his female colleague was wearing shirt-pant so, does that make her less of a woman? But I stayed quiet because I didn’t want the argument to take a personal turn. For the film’s sake, I decided to not say anything,” Kiran added.

Following Kiran’s revelation, a lot of filmmakers present there opened up about their own humiliating experiences with the infamous board. Abhishek Chaubey, who went through a long-standing fight with the CBFC last year to get his much-acclaimed film Udta Punjab released, shared with media persons that he was made to feel like a school boy, who has done something wrong and needs to be punished. “They make you feel like you are guilty like you are in class seven and you deserve punishment for doing something wrong. Their behaviour is condescending towards us.”

Alankrita, whose film Lipstick Under My Burkha saw the light of the day only after she approached the Film Certification Apellate Tribunal directed the CBFC to pass the film with an adult certificate, said that it is high time that the power equation between the Pahlaj Nihalani-led board and the filmmakers was made equal. “After hearing everyone’s experiences, I want to say that we can’t have this lop-sided power dynamic between the board members and filmmakers. Filmmakers need to be given equal powers as the board. We need to talk like equals. These closed-door meetings need to be done away with. We should bring more transparency to what transpires between board and filmmakers.”

From expletives to kissing sequences, Nihalani’s board has ordered 48 cuts in Babumoshai Bandookbaaz after giving it an adult certificate. While the makers argued that if an adult rating has been given, why are there any cuts required, Kushan claimed that the CBFC’s argument, making less sense, says, “Even kids below the age of 18 manage to watch such films in theatres so, we can’t retain such scenes and words in the movie.”

Set in the rural landscape of Uttar Pradesh, Babumoshai Bandookbaaz is about a sharp shooter Babu (Nawazuddin). The film is expected to (given that it gets certified) arrive in theatres on August 25.