Rathore meets film fraternity over censorship troubles

The film fraternity met the Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and senior officials of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to discuss censorship concerns here on Monday evening. The CBFC meeting of board members is to be held on Tuesday morning.

“Films are ambassadors for the country and good for the economy. We want to make the industry even stronger, so we invited suggestions from the industry. This is an ongoing process. Things will get better,” Minister Rathore said. “Films need to be brought to the board in time so that there is always provision for review. We have a certification committee, a revising committee and a Film Certification Appellate Tribunal. No one person can hijack the system,” he told journalists when asked about the CBFC Chairperson’s autocratic style of functioning.

Mukesh Bhatt, President of the Film and TV Producers Guild of India, said that this was the most fruitful interaction with the ministry in recent years. “We were feeling restless and vulnerable but he assured us that we are on the same page and we will interact more regularly.”

Gulzar, Anurag Kashyap, Sriram Raghavan, Shabana Azmi, Vidya Balan, Anushka Sharma and Kiran Rao were among those who attended the meeting. CBFC CEO Shravan Kumar was also present. The meeting comes in the wake of a series of controversies surrounding the CBFC after Pahlaj Nihalani took over in January.