Film censorship is a dilemma in India introduced by the British Raj. The idea was to mainly curtail anti-Raj propaganda.

But, people made patriotic films and slyly weaved in messages against the occupation. Those were days of rationed releases of films; they started with major cities with limited number of prints; it took over a year and half to penetrate the whole circuit as the film distribution was divided during those days.

The first film, Raja Harishchandra released in 1913 when there was no censorship. The concept was introduced later, in 1920s, and came under the purview The Cinematograph Act of 1927. In those days, all filmmaking regions had their own Censor Board—Mumbai, Calcutta, Madras, besides Lahore and Rangoon working independently with no centralised control. 

This changed with the introduction of the Cinematograph Act in 1952. The Central Board of Film Censors was set up with head office in Mumbai. The Boards in other cities were called Regional Offices.

The Censorship in the hands of Indians suddenly started to impose new morals for the moviegoers. Kissing scenes which were kosher during the Silent Movie era were considered taboo and against Indian culture! Is kissing vulgar?

Those who decided to ban it should have asked their own folks! After this, kissing was depicted through a pair of flowers or birds cooing or hero or the heroine brushing his/her lips with the back of the palm giving a meaningful look at the camera! How silly in the country of Kama Sutra where sex is depicted on the walls of temples. Boiling milk spilling over denoted rape scene.

Most filmmakers voided direct contact with the Censor officials unless when a film was denied the Certificate after the first screening and was referred to the Revising Committee or when appealing to the Appellate Tribunal, the final authority. There were touts to do the petty running around. The first thing to do was to submit the script of a completed film to the Board. That was a bit tough in an era when films were made with no prewritten script. The script was in the director and the storywriter’s mind. Strange as it may sound, one of the assistants wrote a script for the censor purpose from the film that was made!

The cuts were ordered at random like “cut 50 percent of climax action” and so on, a practice still prevalent as it happened in the case of a Hollywood movie, Spectre; the kissing scene was asked to be deleted by 50 percent. Logic? None. And, this was in latte 2015!

The Censor officers work on whims. Usually, a film is seen by four members, two men and two women. Now there is a new Regional Officer who arranges the screenings. He has decided that of the four, only one will be male and the rest three women. If this was the way of the Board in normal times, you can imagine how terrible it must have got during the Emergency era! Forget the Board, the then I & B Minister himself, under whose ministry the Board functions, often took matters in his own hands. Banning was the norm. Kissa Kursi Ka was banned on the behest of Sanjay Gandhi. So was Aandhi.

Sholay, the film which was slated to create history at the Indian box office, was stuck. The makers were asked to change the end. The film was about Sanjeev Kumar seeking to avenge the massacre of his entire family at the hands of dacoit Gabbar Singh. Sanjeev Kumar does that at the end but the makers were asked to change the end and show Gabbar being handed over to the police. Then there was this big name filmmaker who had to produce a film for a minister’s paramour so that his big budget film could be cleared.

To change the image of the Censor Board, it was renamed in 1983. The word censor was removed and the Board was renamed as Central Board of Film Certification with a promise that the Board’s job will only be to certify films according to their content and merit. So much for such promises!

It possibly has something to do with a position in a Government body of any kind. It changes a normal, sane human being into a dictator. There was the case of ex top cop from UP, B P Singhal, a Rajya Sabha MP and the brother of Ashok Singhal, head of a Hindu organisation. He was appointed the Chairman in April 1990 and got fed up of the continuous onslaught on his highhanded attitude and gave up within a year.

Then there was Bikram Singh, earlier a film critic for the Times of India and later the Editor of the Filmfare magazine. He served as the CBFC Chairman from September 1983 till February, 1989. He lasted that long was because he was not averse to reason. As a critic, editor as well as the younger brother of veteran  actor, K N Singh, he knew filmmaking inside out.

Boney Kapoor’s ambitious film, Mr. India, was presented for the Certificate. The Viewing Committee (which usually considers itself the ultimate decision makers on what is good for the Indian audience and what is not) gave the film 14 cuts and the film was a week away from its theatrical release. The film was already facing a deficit of 2.25 crore in the era of lakh! I was asked to take the matter forward with Mr Singh, with whom I enjoyed a good rapport. It took just one letter addressed to the Chairman and his members and the film was cleared with two minor cuts and in time for release.

There are a couple of more examples of my interaction with Mr. Singh but the idea was the show how one can be in a powerful position and yet be reasonable.

The Government tried appointing many known film persons in the top post. But, none of them stayed long, except producer-director, Shakti Samanta. For a film fraternity person, it is a tough job and a thankless one.

Somehow, those in power thought Hindi was the language that affected the public opinion and, hence, the policies of the Mumbai CBFC and the regional ones differed a lot. The Regional Offices in the South were much more liberal.

There was something that the CBFC had no way of checking or stopping. It was called “Interpolation”. In late 1970 and early 1980s, the Malayalam film industry in Kerala was notorious for making films with heavy sexual content. Dubbing such films into Hindi was a big business. So what if the Mumbai CBFC did not pass all the content? These films were meant to be shown in some backward areas of a metro like Mumbai where the labour class lived as well into the interiors of the country. After the film was through to the CBFC, not only all the deleted scenes but also clips from porn films were added. They were money making enterprise.

One may ask, why did a producer not go to court against the Censor verdict in a country where freedom of speech and expression is guaranteed by the Constitution? That is because, films are made on borrowed money and the courts take ages. Sooner a producer releases a film and gets over it to start another one, the better.

Now, we have an acknowledged poet, adman and an intellectual at the helm as the Chairman of the CBFC, in Prasoon Joshi. So, what has changed? Nothing. The films are still being treated the same way they were in last Century, in some cases, even worse.

A close coterie gets to watch the big films; other members to watch small and regional films. The backlog of films waiting for clearance dates back to February 2018. How, you may wonder, the big films get instant clearance and are released as planned? Well,   some are more equal than others according to one of the greatest scripts ever written by George Orwell.

As I mentioned, it is that government chair that a person occupies.

@ The BoxOffice

*Looks like Akshay Kumar has made a reputation for making purposeful films which make the Indians appreciate the achievement of their earlier generation. They were never brought before the public. Akshay also takes up the social issues like he did in Padman. 

Akshay is at a stage in his life where he has established himself as a man with conscious who now works for a cause. After all, he has been around for 30 years and has consolidated his place in the industry as well as with his audience.

His film, Oh My God, onwards he has embarked on doing films with purpose and message.

Gold, the latest release of Akshay, brings back to life the story of Tapan Das, a hockey team manager. Hockey was once the only sport where India excelled and dominated the world.

The film, released mid-week on 15th August, the Independence Day national holiday, raked in more than many films over their opening weekend with figures of  over 25 crore on day one. Dropped the next day to again consolidate over the weekend and hold steady through rest of the week. It also benefited on Eid holiday on 22nd.

After the extended five day weekend of 61 crore, the film is expected to close its nine day first week with 89 crore.

John Abraham, after a phase of being inactive is back and prefers to play a crusader. He has decided to go for, what is called, mass oriented films with a lot of action which served well during the single screen era.

However, what seems to have worked for his Satyamev Jayate is the dash of patriotism that has been added to the film. And, patriotism is the flavour of the season.

Satyamev Jayate opened well and held well through the week and is expected to finish its opening nine day week close to 66 crore.