The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has raised an objection to the use of words such as ‘Gujarat’, ‘cow‘ and ‘hindutva view of India’ in a documentary on Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, titled The Argumentative Indian.
Documentary maker Suman Ghosh told journalists that after a screening at the regional office of CBFC in Kolkata early this week, he was told that the factual film can be released with a "U/A certificate only if the filmmaker beeps out the words."
Mr. Ghosh said that there is "no way he could mute these words", which means that the documentary cannot be released as scheduled in certain halls in the city this weekend.
Other than Professor Sen, eminent historian from Harvard University Sugata Bose and Cornell University Professor of Economics Kaushik Basu were interviewed in the documentary. Professor Bose said the developments centering around the documentary give an indication of “the atmosphere of unreason” prevailing in the country.
On July 10, a private screening of the factual film was held at Nandan III in the city where Professor Sen was present.
The documentary is structured as a conversation between him and his student, Mr. Basu.
“Through the conversation, the narrative takes us from his childhood days in Shantiniketan to his college in Calcutta and his academic career in the USA and the UK, where he was the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge University,” a press statement issued on the special screening of the documentary said.