As the news of Haramkhor getting the clearance from Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) spread, Shlok Sharma belief that in this world “der hai par andher nahin hai.” got reaffirmed. “As an outsider it was difficult for me to spend four years on my first film. It was a tiring process as CBFC had refused to certify it as it objected to the theme of the film. But I didn’t allow myself to break down and concentrated on Zoo in the meantime. I learnt a lot of things of about life and people during this period.” Starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Shweta Tripathi, the film is about teacher-student relationship. “It is a historic ruling considering a film which was refused certification by CBFC has been passed with U/A by FCAT. We have been asked to trim a love making scene and fight sequence and as they are not going to change the expression of motivation of characters we have accepted them.
Poster of Haraamkhor
Reflecting on the theme of the film, Shlok says the film sees the world from a children’s point of view. “The notions that they make about relationships. Like there is a scene where a kid says that if you have seen somebody without clothes you end up marrying that guy.”
Aspersions could be cast about the behaviour of the teacher, who apparently manipulates the girl. “Teacher is incidental. He could have been a policeman. It is just that my film is a love story between a student and her teacher.” The point is we associate a higher degree of moral probity with a teacher. “It is true but you can generalise. There have been news stories of incest in families where in some cases grandfather is the culprit. So you don’t how a human will react in a given situation. It depends on how you tell the story and in this regard I must appreciate FCAT for looking at the subject in a mature way.”
