Mumbai: The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) was at the receiving end of severe criticism from the Bombay High Court on Friday while a petition filed by Children's Film Society of India (CFSI), seeking a grant of Universal (U) certification to a children's film 'Chidiakhana' was heard.
Mumbai: The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) was at the receiving end of severe criticism from the Bombay High Court on Friday while a petition filed by Children's Film Society of India (CFSI), seeking a grant of Universal (U) certification to a children's film 'Chidiakhana' was heard.
The hearing was chaired by Division bench of Justice SC Dharmadhikari and Justice GS Patel. The petition was filed by Children's Film Society of India (CFSI), a nodal organisation under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that produces children's films and various TV programs in different Indian languages.
In January 2019, CBFC asked CFSI to mute a word from a scene in the movie and also to delete a particular scene from the film for which CFSI agreed to make the said changes in June. The court then asked CBFC for a response following which CBFC submitted a report stating that the film showed violence, discrimination against a community and hence content commands a U/A certificate.
A U/A certificate requires adult supervision of kids below age 12 in order to be able to watch the daid film which ironically is a children's movie.
Justice GS Patel slammed the CBFC stating "You (CBFC) are a certification board and not a censor board. You will not decide what one wants to watch and see. Nobody has given CBFC the intellectual morality and authority to decide what one wants to watch and see". The court also recorded that films could be used to explain issues like caste discrimination, drug addiction etc. to children and referred to the Udta Punjab controversy and observed that the CBFC had not learnt its lesson. The court then claimed that CBFC is forming an opinion that the whole population is naive and stupid, and they are the only one with an iota of intelligence to decide for everyone."
Finally, the bench directed the CBFC's Regional Officer to file an affidavit and in it elaborate on the CBFC's policy for certification of children's films. The next hearing will be on August 5th.
The hearing was chaired by Division bench of Justice SC Dharmadhikari and Justice GS Patel. The petition was filed by Children's Film Society of India (CFSI), a nodal organisation under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that produces children's films and various TV programs in different Indian languages.
In January 2019, CBFC asked CFSI to mute a word from a scene in the movie and also to delete a particular scene from the film for which CFSI agreed to make the said changes in June. The court then asked CBFC for a response following which CBFC submitted a report stating that the film showed violence, discrimination against a community and hence content commands a U/A certificate.
A U/A certificate requires adult supervision of kids below age 12 in order to be able to watch the daid film which ironically is a children's movie.
Justice GS Patel slammed the CBFC stating "You (CBFC) are a certification board and not a censor board. You will not decide what one wants to watch and see. Nobody has given CBFC the intellectual morality and authority to decide what one wants to watch and see". The court also recorded that films could be used to explain issues like caste discrimination, drug addiction etc. to children and referred to the Udta Punjab controversy and observed that the CBFC had not learnt its lesson. The court then claimed that CBFC is forming an opinion that the whole population is naive and stupid, and they are the only one with an iota of intelligence to decide for everyone."
Finally, the bench directed the CBFC's Regional Officer to file an affidavit and in it elaborate on the CBFC's policy for certification of children's films. The next hearing will be on August 5th.