The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has directed the makers of the upcoming Malayalam film Oru Bharatha Sarkar Ulpannam to remove the word ‘Bharatha’ from the title for the film to get permission for release.
Though the producers have the choice to go for an appeal against the decision or to approach the court, they have chosen to release the movie with the changed title of Oru Sarkar Ulpannam considering the financial losses that may be caused by postponement.
The film, directed by debutant T.V. Renjith and starring Subish Sudhi, Gouri G. Kishan and Aju Varghese, was earlier set to release on March 1, 2004. It was later postponed to March 8. According to Mr. Sudhi, CBFC officials did not have any issues with the content of the film, for which it has given a clean ‘U’ certificate, but insisted on a change in the title.
“Their problem was only with the title. They told us that we could have used Kerala, Karnataka or Tamil Nadu Sarkar as the title, but not ‘Bharatha Sarkar’. The officials did not give us any explanation for the decision,” says Mr. Sudhi.
Original title cleared in trailer
According to E. Satheesh, managing director of Content Factory, which handles the film’s marketing, the CBFC had earlier cleared the film’s trailer with the original title which was screened in theatres too.
“Now, they have asked us to remove the trailer from cinemas too. The demand to change the title is being made at a time when we have already printed 30,000 posters with the old title. We will put black stickers over the word and use the posters as a mark of protest. The film does not say anything critical against any government. In fact, it portrays the National Population Control Mission’s programme in a positive light. We made repeated requests to the regional committee (of CBFC) to reconsider the decision. However, despite convening multiple times to discuss the issue, they stuck to their original stand,” says Mr. Satheesh.
