Archives: Films

This has certainly spooked the censors a bit. A scene from Mukesh Bhatt's Raaz — The Mystery Continues has been censored, and has yet managed to get an A certificate. Hindustan Times gives us the details: [Link] In the ‘offending scene’, Kangana Ranaut is having a bath in her tub, the ghost spooks her, she jumps out, covered in soap suds. “What is wrong with the scene? You don’t have a bath with your clothes on!” exclaims Bhatt. “Kangana is not even nude, she is wearing a bodysuit. But the censor board says that the bodysuit is not enough, because it...

Freedom of expression is slightly more than scribbling poems and tucking them away in your closet, or giving a small, inane speech at a party you might be hosting in your kitchen garden. It is also about putting across a point of view. And it is also about accepting someone else's point of view, however, obnoxious or virulent it might be. The attacks on Biharis, among others, in Mumbai by chauvinist Marathis, and the subsequent display of primeval sentiments by political leaders of Bihari ostensibly as a reaction to the former are both parochial manifestations of divergent points of...

There's some more relief for Shilpa Shetty. The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has quashed criminal cases against Shetty and Reema Sen. The two were accused of having conniving with a Tamil eveninger to publish their obscene pictures. Well, some people get the weirdest of ideas. Justice S Nagamuthu felt the materials available on record did not make out ''any case'' against them. Little wonder. Some details from the NDTV story of April 23. [Link] Allowing the proceedings to continue further against the petitioners would be a wasteful exercise involving public money, precious...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the lifting of bans on the screening of "Jodhaa Akbar", a film about the romance between a Mughal emperor and a Hindu princess that had angered the Rajput community, says a Reuters report. [Link] Several states banned the film on the grounds that its screening would incite violence after Rajputs protested and even attacked movie halls screening it. The makers of the film moved the Supreme Court, saying the bans were illegal and had led to huge revenue losses. On Tuesday, the court stayed the bans until March 14 pending disposal of the appeal. ...

Quite a bunch of Rajputs are irked with Ashutosh Gowarikar's Jodhaa- Akbar. They have raised objections on Jodhaa Bai's origin, as Gowarikar believes. According to Rajputs, Jodhaa Bai was the daughter-in-law of Akbar, and not his wife, as shown in the film. There has been some violence. Says CNN-IBN: "Opposing Ashutosh Gowarikar's movie, hundreds of youths belonging to the Rajput community staged a protest demonstration and shouted slogans against the film producer. They also burnt promotional posters of the film." Gowarikar's depiction may well be a figment of his imagination, than...

The Left cannot be far behind. The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) on Friday last staged a demonstration in front of a cinema theatre in the Khammam town of Andhra Pradesh protesting against the use of obscene posters, says a siasat.com report. [Link] They removed the posters and set them ablaze. The protesters objected to screening of movies replete with obscenity. They attributed the increasing atrocities on girl students in educational institutions to the movies without any commitment towards society and culture. ...

India should not see Ranbir Kapoor dropping his towel in Saawariya. The Censor Board Film Certification (CBFC) RO Vinayak Azad has this to say according to indiantelevision.com, "I think the issue is being blown out of proportion. It was a voluntary decision by the director Sanjay Leela Bhansali when we explained to him that the scene would not be appropriate for a U-certificate film. He opted to chop it." Yeah, sure, the towel has been blown away, Mr Azad. He has more to say: [Link] "Being progressive does not mean exposing," argues Azad. "People have clichéd opinions of...

We have received a letter from Ranjit Hoskote, Secretary-Treasurer, Drishti Media, Arts & Human Rights, Ahmedabad, on the Mumbai police stopping a screening of Sanjay Kak's documentary. We write to bring to your notice yet another violation of the freedom of expression in India. On Friday, 27 July 2007, a posse of policemen attached to the Dadar police station in Bombay broke into a private screening of Sanjay Kak's documentary, Jashn-e-Azaadi, and confiscated the DVD. The screening, which was hosted by the Vikalp group of independent filmmakers, was intended to bring...

Sharmila Tagore, our chief film censor, said in an interview with Reuters that state censorship was more transparent and preferable to street censorship enforced by angry mobs or political groups. Here are five recent films that did not have a smooth ride with India's censors — both official and self-appointed: Mumbai Aamchich was denied a certificate this year because the film board said it endorsed the idea that the city of Mumbai belongs only to people from Maharashtra and everybody else should be killed. The Da Vinci Code, a thriller which suggests Jesus...

It's Pune again. But this time, it is the turn of the Islamists. A group of youths tore down posters of Hindi film Awarapan and carried out demonstrations at Victory theatre in Pune Camp, where the movie was screened on Saturday afternoon, claiming that the film has scenes hurting religious sentiments. Following the incident, the police provided security to 13 theatres in the city, where the film is being screened in this Maharashtra city. The culprits this time out were members of the Indian Muslim Front, Samajwadi Party, Madina Muslim Committee and others, who ordered...