A spate of resignations from the Central Board of Film Certification has come in solidarity with chairperson Leela Samson, who quit on grounds of coercion, corruption and government interference in the board’s functioning. The appellate tribunal’s reported clearance of the movie MSG: The Messenger of God, which overturns the censor board’s rejection of certificate, is the crux of the disharmony.
The issue is blatantly political as the major ruling party at the Centre may be backing the film in order to woo Baba Ram Rahim Singh’s Dera Sacha Sauda in Punjab since its relationship with the ruling Akali Dal has been worsening. Had the tribunal acted with such alacrity — in meeting and clearing the film in under 24 hours — only to uphold the principle of freedom of speech and expression and to support the right of creative arts to give free rein to human imagination, this would be an occasion to stand up and applaud.
The censor board, for its part, overstepped its limits in being so judgmental as to declare a film “obscurantist” and capable of “spreading communal disaffection”. If that were the criteria, the very basis of film certification should cease to exist as no film can be made these days without triggering protests on grounds of grievances real or imaginary. It is also curious that the chairperson should accuse the board of corruption towards the end of her term while having done little about it during her tenure. The events involving the censor board beg the larger question of whether films need to be certified, or merely age-group classified, as it happens in more mature societies.
