Subhash K Jha (DNA; May 1, 2016)
Earlier this week, Shyam Benegal who heads the committee for reforms in censorship rules, submitted his report to the I&B ministry.
Benegal was quoted as saying, “We are recommending that CBFC should not be using scissors on any film. We are suggesting that in addition to different classifications that we have — we should have two categories of U/A (12 and 15) and two categories of A (Adult & Adult With Caution).”Explaining the need for censorial reform, Kamal Haasan who is part of Benegal’s committee, says, “Freedom comes with responsibility. All members of the certification committee will also take responsibility for the grading.”
Kamal sees no need for cutting scenes. “I think censorship is redundant in a free country. With the new proposed gradation of films, the filmmaker has a choice to hold on to his content and play it to a limited number of screens or lose some footage and reach out to a larger mass. Adult With Caution is a new grading in the new recommendations .”
Explains the actor, “Adult With Caution (AC) certified films may not play in all theatres, only in theatres with a special licence in specified areas. It is up to the filmmaker to set the limit on his revenue. The logic is with commercial filmmakers aiming at a larger audience. They may not go to these limited number of venues just to continue making AC films. With Internet providing abundant pornography, even sleazy filmmakers might grow up to make slightly better films, I guess.”
Welcoming the move to change Censor guidelines, Pahlaj Nihalani says, “It has been long overdue. And I am happy that Mr Benegal and his learned committee have come up with the idea of replacing censorship with gradation. I especially like the idea of an Adult With Caution certification. For very long, this idea of a separate yardstick for certifying sex-oriented films or films with excessive violence, has been hovering around. In fact, when the late Vijay Anand was the chairperson of the CBFC, he had even suggested that there should be separate theatres and timings for films with sex-oriented content. Nothing came of it. I just hope Mr Benegal’s ideas are implemented in the near future.”