Uncensored

A series of email exchanges between members of the Central Board of Film Certification, obtained by The Mumbai Age, highlights the growing dissatisfaction of some of the senior members with the style of functioning of the chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani and to an extent, with CBFC CEO Anurag Srivastava as well...

The controversies surrounding the Central Board of Film Certification — and its chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani — refuse to die down. Just a couple of days after the CBFC asked that the length of two kissing scenes in Spectre (the new James Bond film) be cut down by half (and apparently also issued a similar cut for a scene in Tamasha) and caused quite the uproar among film buffs, The Mumbai Age was privy to a series of email exchanges between members of the censor board, which raise questions about Nihalani’s style of functioning, among other issues.

The emails among the members — these includes names like noted sociologist Nandini Sardesai, filmmaker Ashoke Pandit, Raghu Menon, Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi, George Baker, Mihir Bhuta etc — are mainly focused on how regulations can be passed by the CBFC chairman without first taking into account the opinion of the board.

Beginning from November 18, the first email from Ms Sardesai, addressed to the other members of the board as well as to the official email addresses of the chairman and the CBFC CEO, begins by asking about a list of “banned cusswords” that were allegedly circulated to the regional offices (ROs) without any intimation to board members.

“I have been informed today that the chairman has circulated a list of (banned) cuss words to all ROs with instructions to follow it,” reads one email from member Nandini Sardesai. “How has this been done without taking into confidence the board, which is the policy making body At the last board meeting, it was specifically mentioned that the old list be withdrawn and no steps in this direction be taken without the approval of the board.”

Nandini writes that in September, the new CBFC CEO Anurag Srivastava had personally assured her that a board meeting would be convened in November. She rues however, that nothing positive has emerged in this regard thus far, and that the board has become merely a “spineless, titular body”. “No member is aware of anything that is happening at the CBFC headquarters — I wonder if the I&B ministry is!” Nandini wrote.

Another point of contention the members raised in the email was the apparent sidelining of a senior member like Raghu Menon. Menon, who has over the past four decades served as a senior civil servant in various government ministries has written that despite his communications with the chairman and the CEO (regarding certain actions that needed to be taken pertaining to decisions reached at a meeting of the board), he received no acknowledgement from either of them. Announcing that he was disassociating himself from the CBFC, Menon also wrote, “If members of the board are treated in such a cavalier and offhand fashion, I feel it is a blot on our self-respect, or at least mine. The I&B Ministry appears to be least bothered about the CBFC’s functioning I have never seen such utter insensitivity and disregard by a ministry for an important autonomous statutory body established under an Act of Parliament.

It is immensely disturbing I have closely observed and have been involved in the working of the CBFC for the last 20 years in various capacities, when it was headed by Shakti Samanta, Vijay Anand, Asha Parekh, Sharmila Tagore, Leela Samson etc, but never have I seen it sink to such levels of total disregard for the board members. It would be better to disband the board if it is found to be so irrelevant.”

Menon’s reply elicited emails from a number of other members, including Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi (his heartfelt message to the other board members merely said that after a missive like the one written by Raghu, nothing more needed to be said), George Baker (who pointed out that the arbitrary decisions taken by one person without taking board members into confidence, should not reflect badly or have adverse repercussion for the entire board) and Mihir Bhuta (who suggested that board members make a visit to Delhi to meet with the I&B minister and perhaps even Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make a “formal representation” of their issues).

While the back-and-forth between the members continued, a letter from CBFC CEO Anurag Srivastava emphatically asserted that no list of cuss words was circulated among the regional offices of the CBFC. He also went on to state: “(Members) are also requested to refrain from commenting on individual films, eg. Spectre which was given a U/A certification with the minimum possible cuts. The film Spectre has not gone to the revising committee or seen by the chairman. It was examined by RO, Mumbai and cleared by the examining committee. The applicant accepted the cuts and the certificate was issued on 5/11/2015.”

Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit, who has been vocal in his criticism of the CBFC’s functioning ever since Nihalani took over, responded to Srivastava’s mail with a missive of his own, requesting that the CEO have a meeting with board members where they could air their grievances. The points raised specifically in Pandit’s email included words being arbitrarily cut from films, his seeing only one film so far (because “Pahlaj Nihalani doesn’t like my face”) and a question of which of the board members have been on the revising committee for reviewing films.

“We are educated and responsible citizens of this country and would not like to be censored while we are sharing our thoughts. We are not your students or your subordinates where orders can be passed on us. If a person like Raghu Menon is upset or Dr Dwivedi is upset or if Mihir Bhuta is upset, then there has to be a reason for it. I request you to go into the details of the way the officers of CBFC are functioning and call for an informal meeting with the board members at your time so that you can listen to the other side also,” the email from Pandit ends.

When we reached out to CBFC chairman Pahlaj Nihalani for his comment on the issue, he told us, “I don’t see anything amiss in the functioning of the CBFC”. He said that certain board members were “simply creating issues”. Responding to the allegations in the emails, he said, “The list of cusswords has not been circulated and the rumours are completely baseless. (As for Mr Raghu Menon) his tenure got over on November 2 and that’s the reason he won’t be attending meetings. The circular on the deletion of scenes related to animals in Hollywood films is issued by the Supreme Court and I’m simply following orders.”

Nihalani also said that he was always available over the phone and at the CBFC office in South Mumbai until 5 pm, for members who wished to approach him to discuss their issues. “My work does not require me to keep them updated about my day-to-day functioning. It’s only during meetings that I talk to them and their suggestions are always welcomed,” he said.

Board members like Rahu Menon could not be reached for comment. However, Ms Nandini Sardesai did tell us about the exchanges between the board members: “All we can do is raise our voices. We don’t have any plan of action as yet, we are the statutory members and it is the I&B ministry that needs to do something about this.” feedback.age@gmail.com