Shunyota controversy: Only followed rules as there was no consensus, says CBFC

The four-member committee examined the 1 hour 45 minute movie on March 27 and sent a letter to the producers of the movie the next day, informing them about their decision.

“Since there are differences of opinion among the members of the committee regarding certification, the case is being referred, as per the Certification rules, to the Chairman, CBFC, for his decision in this regard,” read the letter.

“The committee is authorised to refuse certification to a film. However, we have not refused it and only forwarded it to the chairperson,” Mhamia said.

On Wednesday, director of the movie Suvendu Ghosh accused the CBFC of delaying certification to his film and claimed that the Kolkata office of the body could not give proper reasons as to why the movie was sent to the chairperson. The film was scheduled to be released on Friday.

“What is surprising is that they did not give me any proper reason as to why the movie was sent to the chairperson. They only said that they could not decide whether the movie would fall in U or U/A category. Moreover, they took the decision without discussing the matter with us. They should have at least considered the business aspects of the movie as the movie was scheduled to get released this Friday. I think the subject of the movie was the reason why they could not take a decision,” Ghosh told The Indian Express on Thursday.

The plot of the movie revolves around a writer named Anirban Roy Chowdhury who is seen releasing his book. The book contains three stories, which show how people were affected by demonetisation. The first story is based on the life of a daily wage-earner in a Ranigunj colliery, the second is about a Gangtok-based couple coming to Kolkata for the treatment of their child, and the third is about a Kakdwip-based trawler repairer.

In the movie, the writer describes the effects of demonetisation on the lives of the three families. The director had made three separate short films out of three stories and merged them together to make the full-length feature film.
Ghosh had earlier got separate certificates for the first two stories in documentary and short film categories.

“As I had already got U/A and U certificates for first two short films, I decided not to apply for certification for the third story as I thought there would be no issues and merged them together to make a feature film. Now, I am surprised to see that they were clueless about what to do with the film,” he said.

The director further said that he had produced the earlier certificates of his first two short films, but that did little to solve the problem. “The regional office members told us that the jury, which had given clearance to the short films, was different. The jury which gives clearance to feature films cannot take the observation of the earlier jury into consideration,” the director said.

Ghosh added that he did not receive any communication either from CBFC chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani or his office. “Tomorrow (Friday), I will go to the CBFC’s Kolkata office to get information,” he said.