It looks like the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) follows a different set of guidelines for filmmakers like Aditya Chopra and Shyam Benegal, as compared with the rest of the film fraternity. Shor Se Shuruaat, an anthology of seven short stories, which released this week, was passed with a U/A certificate, despite the explicit sexual content in one of its stories. That the movies have been made by protégées of the likes of Shyam, Zoya Akhtar, Imtiaz Ali, Homi Adajania and Nagesh Kukunoor helped.
What’s more is that the collection has six stories in Hindi, while one is in English, and according to the rules, films in different languages must be certified separately.
The CBFC chairperson, Pahlaj Nihalani, admitted that rules were bent for Shor Se Shuruaat. “But this was because we believe the film brings forth new, talented directors trained by filmmakers like Shyam Benegalji, and Mira Nair. Each film is socially relevant and so we’ve allowed it a certain amount of creative leverage. The last short, Mia I Am, directed by Satish Raj Kasireddy is in English, and should’ve been certified separately. However, we allowed it to be certified along with the other Hindi shorts, for the sake of creative convenience. In fact, the English movie does not deserve the U/A, but an A certification.”
