The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) recently banned the release of Unfreedom, a film which features a lesbian relationship, on the grounds that it will ignite ‘unnatural passions’. It also follows a parallel track where a liberal Muslim girl is kidnapped by terrorists, apparently something which the board objected to. Besides knocking on the doors of High Court, director Raj Amit Kumar has also decided to file a petition against the Board. “I have appealed to the High Court asking them to allow me to release the film. I also want to lodge a petition.”
In fact, the director now claims that the Board primarily had a problem with the portrayal of the “religious fundamentalism” in the film. “Everyone believes that the reason for banning the film is homosexuality, but that’s just a part of the problem. The religious fundamentalism, which I am dealing with in the film, bothers them even more,” Kumar says.
Interestingly, in the past, the Board has cleared many films which feature homosexual relationships between two women with an A certificate, such as Fire and Girlfriend.
On the other hand, the chairman of the Censor Board, Pahlaj Nihalani, says that his Board is being dragged into the controversy unnecessarily. “The film was brought to the censor board back in November last year, when I had not even joined office. They (previous panel) had not cleared the film. So, the filmmaker had approached the Examining Committee later, which refused a certification to the film. He then went to the Revising Committee, which passed the film with an A certificate, after suggesting a few cuts. However, the producer was still not satisfied, and he approached the tribunal (The Film Certification Appellate Tribunal) in Delhi. And the Tribunal also refused to certify the film. And now, the director is planning to move the court,” says Nihalani.
Kumar maintains that cutting those scenes is tantamount to curbing his creative freedom. “I don’t even want to talk about the kind of cuts they asked me to make in my film. It was not only cutting a few scenes, it was more about removing a particular thought and expression. They have no business telling a filmmaker what to put in his film. They cannot curb our creativity. Who are they to decide what goes in my film and what doesn’t,” says an agitated Kumar, adding, “In fact, I feel that it is important that we go on the streets on India and arrange marches. This is not about a particular film, it is about all the films that are not allowed to be screened.”