Veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal and Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan are the latest B-Town celebs to join the band wagon of the people, who have raised their voice against the censorship.
The Censor Board has made it to the headlines several times in the recent past for its censorship of kissing and smooching scenes and cuss words in various movies. The makers and actors of these movies have cried foul over the officials of the Board for deleting or muting scenes and words as they were crucial for their films.
The Board is now once again at the receiving end after it trimmed a kissing scene in the 24th James Bond movie "Spectre". Pahlaj Nihalani, the Chief of the Censor Board, has been criticised by the media, politicians, celebs and audiences for his act. Many sarcastic remarks and photos created a lot of buzz with the hashtag #SanskariJamesBond on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites in the last week.
The censorship of "Spectre" has sparked a big debate on Indian Censor Board not only in India, but also across the globe. Responding to the controversy, Shyam Benegal expressed his displeasure over the growing menace of the Censor Board. He said the censorship of creativity should be abolished.
"In one word, I would say abolish censorship. I personally don't believe in censorship... I am concerned about the imposition of censorship here, which has no real purpose except to come in the way of you expression. That's the kind of censorship I oppose," The Indian Express quoted Shyam Benegal as saying on the sidelines of IFFI event in Panji.
Addressing the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award function in New Delhi on Monday, Aamir Khan expressed his concern over the 'aggressive approach' of the Board in clearing films. Mr Perfectionist said he was alarmed by the stance of the Board.
"It (the board) is reacting to things that we, as free people, as adults, should make our own choices on. Essentially the certification board is supposed to mention the age for which the film is suitable. There is no censorship required after the certification." The Indian Express quoted the Bollywood superstar as saying.
It should be mentioned that director Kabir Khan had recently blasted the Board over deleting a word from his film. "Words like Saala were cut out from my film "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" by the CBFC. Later, a film, which had the same word in its title was alowed to be released by the Board. CBFC needs to understand it can't cut out swear words they have to be taken in context," The Times of India had quoted as saying.
