Opinion Hold the drink

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is not known to trust the discretion of the Indian movie-goer much. It decides how much skin, how much violence and what kind of politics she is fit to watch. Even so, those who trooped in to watch Happy New Year this month were surprised that its solicitousness could lead it to flash “Alcohol is injurious to health” warnings during scenes of mildly drunken carousing. That’s a first for Indian movies. The chairperson of the board has clarified to a worried film industry that this is a one-off, that the producers agreed to insert the message in return for a U-certificate for the film. But the question is: why was the suggestion made in the first place? Already, a ticker telling the viewer not to be influenced by larger-than-life characters smoking on screen pops up compulsorily between the viewer and her film. In the past, not-so-sober films have been thought fit for a universal certificate. Happy New Year’s case suggests a new interpretation of the guidelines.

Hindi movies know how to hold a drink. There is a long tradition of comedy that revels in the boisterousness of the alcoholic, always remembering to sober up and address the dangers of too many Patiala pegs. But film certification remains a strange business in India. It focuses more on sanitising films of (what a handful of people considers) the indecent or offensive — rather than labelling them clearly (whether appropriate for 12+ or 15+) for the viewer. It seems to believe that it needs to wag a finger at adult audiences to do its job.

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The CBFC chief’s argument that the warning is meant for the children in the audience is specious — but also typical of the confused moral code that binds Bollywood and the censors. Anyone who has watched five mainstream Bollywood films will know that the gatekeepers allow flagrant prejudice and misogyny to sail through. The liquor warning is plainly a case of the CBFC allowing itself another opportunity to assert power and play nanny.