‘This is how they thank us?’
...asks Pahlaj Nihalani at the satirical video by team Titli, that takes a jibe at the CBFC
By : subhash k. jha
Update: 2015-11-06 23:26 GMT
Pahlaj Nihalani is not new to accusations of being brutal with censoring films, but team Titli’s way of hitting out at the censor board along with a few other heavyweight filmmakers seems particularly unwarranted to the CBFC chairperson. Recently, Kanu Behl, the director of Titli along with other filmmakers — Sudhir Mishra, Vasan Bala, Hansal Mehta, Mahesh Bhatt, Ajay Bahl and Dibakar Banerjee — got together with an online entertainment network to put out a film called Censor Qtiyapa. The film takes a sharp jibe at the workings of the CBFC. Kanu is shown as a victim of the board’s policies and attitude.
Says Nihlani, “We went out of our way to certify Titli—with the least amount of cuts. If we had followed I&B guidelines, we’d have to cut nearly 30 per cent of the film. But because the content is powerful and relevant, we allowed many very raw and stark scenes and dialogues to remain. We even suggested substitute words for the abuses that had to go. And this is how they thank us?”
Nihalani now calls the certification of Titli a mistake. “The film portrays our country and the people of Delhi in such a poor light. And how many people saw the film? It opened to empty theatres.”
In his defence director Kanu Behl said, “I faced a lot of problems with the censors. The film has live sound. To get artistes to dub key words in a live sound film was not easy. I also don’t get the logic of allowing 20 cuss words and not 50. How does it help?”
Screen grab from the Qtiyapa video which mocks the CBFC
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