Talking about censorship is like banging your head against a wall : Anurag Kashyap

Mumbai: Anurag Kashyap and Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) have quite a bit of a history. From proposing cuts to delaying releases of his films by months, CBFC has always stood as a hurdle between Anurag and creativity.

According to Kashyap, Pahlaj Nihalani, Chairman of CBFC, treats him differently. "If anything is remotely associated with me, Pahlaj ji opens his pitara and brings out the special love he has for me. He can say whatever he wants. We know we will always have to move court for our films," the director of ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ franchise was reported as saying by a leading daily.

If you rewind a little, Anurag’s ‘Udta Punjab’, a film that wages a war against drug abuse prevalent in Punjab, had to go under Censor Board’s sharp scissors before Kashyap took the matter in his hands and moved to Bombay High Court.

In fact, the recently-released controversial film ‘Haraamkhor’ was lying with the CBFC for good eight months before the board passed it with a U/A certificate.

An irate Anurag feels that censorship in India is a ‘pointless’ topic that he would rather not talk about.

It's (censorship) a topic that I would rather not talk about, because it's pointless; it's like banging your head against a wall. For every film, we will have to move court. So, the process of getting our films cleared will take around six to eight months. I remember at the time of 'Bombay Velvet' (2015), Pahlaj ji had cut a simple intimate scene. And now you see him clearing much more than that in a film."

Nihalani was criticised after the release of ‘Befikre’ in December last year, where Ranveer Singh was seen flashing his butt on celluloid.