There is no space for censorship in a democracy, and the Cinematograph Act, 1952, should be scrapped, Jayan Cherian, maker of the film Ka Bodyscapes , has said.
He was speaking at an open forum on ‘Politics of mob censorship’ organised at Tagore Theatre in connection with the International Film Festival of Kerala here.
Mr. Cherian said the British started censorship to mute political dissent, but it continued in independent India, which was proof that the colonial legacy survived even today.
He said he had to fight hard to get his films screened. “Killing my creativity bothers me. I have not written any poem in the past four years. Creativity is my very existence, and that is being violated.”
The online campaign that filmmaker Kamal faced in connection with the screening of Ka Bodyscapes was an example of mob censorship and deliberate, to serve a political interest. He also condemned the silence over the arrest of activist Rehana Fathima, saying it was fascism. “We are being used as a tool for political interests.”
Actor and filmmaker Nandita Das, who inaugurated the first open forum of the festival, said one had to fight for freedom for expression, even if one disagreed with what the other has to say. It was a matter of concern that the space for open dialogue and dissent was shrinking. “While social media has democratised many things, it has given birth to trolls, primarily to silence voices.”
Art was subjective to a large extent, and one group of people could not sit in judgement on it for others, she said.
Censorship had always existed because it threatened the orthodoxy and the conservatives. Manto, on whom she had made a film, had six cases charged against him for obscene writing. “The writing that we today celebrate was supposed to be obscene then,” she said.
Apart from a regulatory body that was being considered, censorship was happening in other ways too – there were self-proclaimed custodians of culture who were very dangerous; many artistes were also self-censoring for fear of being ostracised or trolled. “We have to be very careful of this culture of silence.” Kamal, chairperson, Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, was present. K.M. Kamal, filmmaker, moderated the session.
