Bhatt, Shabana condemn Censor jump cut

It was a day that boasted more drama than most Bollywood potboilers. Two associations of documentary filmmakers lauded the government8217;s...

It was a day that boasted more drama than most Bollywood potboilers. Two associations of documentary filmmakers lauded the government8217;s decision to remove Anupam Kher from the Censor Board chairman8217;s post. Ironically, the move came at a meeting in Mumbai called by a group of directors 8212; Aziz Mirza, Sudhir Mishra and Kundan Shah among them 8212; to condemn Kher8217;s ouster. Mahesh Bhatt, who is in Goa, sent a letter to Sonia Gandhi denouncing the shabby treatment meted out to Kher.

8216;8216;It is an extremely unhealthy trend to remove people mid-term,8217;8217; said actress Shabana Azmi who was not present at the meeting. 8216;8216;This is not new. I was unceremoniously removed from my post in the Children8217;s Film Society by the Chandrashekhar government because I was seen as a V.P. Singh appointee.8217;8217;

Filmmaker Anand Patwardhan took the debate to another level when he read from a statement issued at the meeting by Vikalp and the Campaign Against Censorship/Films for Freedom. 8216;8216;The Censor Board which has often been arbitrary and undemocratic reached its nadir under NDA rule. Every chairman of the CBFC in this period presided over gross attempts to curb the secular voice. Anupam Kher8217;s tenure was no exception 8230;8217;8217;

The statement was signed, among others by Rakesh Sharma, whose documentary on the Gujarat riots 8212; Final Solution 8212; was stalled for months before it was cleared without cuts last week.

A separate release from the Indian Documentary Producers8217; Association IDPA read: 8216;8216;8230; CBFC has a history of using film certification as an instrument for stifling freedom of speech and political dissent.8217;8217;

When contacted, Patwardhan said: 8216;8216;I believe he should have been removed with dignity. But Kher needs to take some responsibility for what happened in his tenure.8217;8217;

For many in the industry, this was an opportunity to open up a debate on censorship as a whole.

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Writer Javed Akhtar said: 8216;8216;Rakesh Sharma was not the first person to have problems. Anand Patwardhan routinely makes documentaries that win national awards and then the very system that awarded him refuses to give him a Censor certificate. Why this ambiguity?8217;8217;

Though Bhatt chose not to disclose the exact contents of his letter to Sonia, he condensed it in these words: 8216;8216;Just as every bearded Muslim is not a terrorist, and every Hindu on the street is not a fundamentalist, so also every person appointed by the BJP is not an RSS person.8217;8217;

Slamming the Left for its perceived role in Kher8217;s removal, he added: 8216;8216;What does it matter if fascism comes in the colour saffron or red?8217;8217;

Director Govind Nihalani refused to condemn Kher for Final Solution. 8216;8216;The film ultimately got cleared, didn8217;t it?8217;8217; he said.