Dev Anand censored, will protest

MUMBAI, May 25: The snipers at the Censor Board have resurfaced, this time in the avatar of the Moral Police. Two scenes from veteran Bollyw...

MUMBAI, May 25: The snipers at the Censor Board have resurfaced, this time in the avatar of the Moral Police. Two scenes from veteran Bollywood actor-director Dev Anand8217;s auto-biographical film Main Solah Baras Ki8217; have been summarily snipped for offending their delicate sensibilities, which they feel will gnaw at the moral fibre of the public as well.

In one scene, the evergreen actor, who also plays the hero, serenades a glass of whisky and, horror of horrors, in the other he actually tells the young heroine to relax and shed her inhibitions before the camera during a shoot.

Anand told Express Newsline that the Central Board of Film Certification CBFC has clearly misunderstood the script as there is no use of innuendo. In the controversial scene, where an aspiring heroine is being groomed for a shoot, the director Anand himself merely asks the starlet to relax and ease up so that she does not appear stilted.

8220;The proposed cuts spoil the narration and half the song will be gone from the film,8221;says Anand in utter dismay. CBFC President Shakti Samanta told Express Newsline he had not attended the film8217;s screening and that the cuts, recommended by the Examining Committee, had been upheld by the Revising Committee. 8220;I have advised Mr Dev Anand to go to the Appellate Tribunal,8221; he added.

Earlier, the board8217;s president used to personally view films up for censoring but the practice was later abandoned. Anand points out that the board is taking prudishness to a ludicrous extreme as films directed by him were certified with a U8217; rating decades ago, when viewers were the first to baulk at the slightest hint of anything suggestive.

The board, whose members are shuffled at regular intervals, appears to have forgotten that Anand had sung Din Dhal Jaye Haye Raat Na Jaaye8217; while clasping a glass of whisky in Guide8217; more than three decades ago. That film, he points out, was given a U8217; rating.

The censors8217; amnesia is especially disturbing as the board had cleared the 1984 hit, Sharabi8217;, whereAmitabh Bachchan too laces a song with the golden intoxicant. The list goes on but the board appears to have regressed with time. Mai Solah Baras Ki8217; is the story of a teenager from America, a fan of Anand who is desperate to meet him. When she does encounter the veteran actor, who also plays the role of a director, he casts her as his heroine. While grooming her to stardom, the starlet falls in love with him but the wisened director advises her against a relationship.

Story continues below this ad

8220;It is an honest depiction of myself because I have given so many heroines a break. Why should the censors object to my holding a glass of whisky in my hand while singing a song? If they cut the scene, half the song will go. Don8217;t film directors drink whisky,8221; he asks.

8220;In my film, Hare Rama Hare Krishna8217;, no cuts were effected even though I show the heroine taking drugs. Both these films were given U8217; certificates. In this day and age viewers are used to so many undesirable things they view on satellite television,8221; he says, addingthat the two controversial8217; scenes in his film are anything but offensive. Cutting them will kill the continuity, he says.

Anand says he is not about to acquiesce to the board8217;s whims. If the Appellate Tribunal is not amenable to reason, he says he may even go to court. This would delay the film8217;s release, slated for June, he concedes.

8220;I think the guidelines are misinterpreted to suit the censors8217; convenience. We have to compete with the world market but our censors here behave like puritans,8221; comes the parting shot.