Anurag Kashyap’s run-in with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is as old as his film career itself. In fact, his very first feature film, Paanch (2003), faced the wrath of the board, which raised objections to depictions of violence, drug abuse and the use of bad language. Although the film eventually received the green signal, Paanch never got a theatrical release (due to reported financial issues). Even in the cases of his subsequent movies, such as Black Friday (2004) and Bombay Velvet (2015), Anurag locked horns with the CBFC.
Recently, he indirectly addressed the Janaki v/s State of Kerala controversy, in which the board demanded changes to the title and the name of the titular character, Janaki, as they also refer to Goddess Sita. “If, in your writing, your characters can’t be named after any of the characters that have been part of mythology… It’s very strange. You have to look for it. They can’t be named after living characters, too. What is left there? You should call your characters XYZ? 1234? ABC? You can’t have surnames, nor characters with greyness or negative shades and blackness in them. They will have to be white. Lots of films are not coming out when they address these issues,” he pointed out during a chat with The Juggernaut.
“This handholding does not let you grow. This handholding happens only when you don’t want your audience to grow. What is the definition of an adult? An adult is a person who can think for themselves. Yet, you don’t want people to think for themselves and make the choice of whether something’s good or bad for them. You are making the choice. The [OTT] platforms are making the choice. Everybody’s making the choice except the individual concerned,” he said, adding that this wouldn’t stop people from watching what they wish to, and that the only outcome would be more people turning to piracy.
He also pointed out that movies offering moral science lessons and messages urging people to do good don’t bring about any actual changes. Anurag stated that cinema — and art in general — should hold a mirror up to society, allowing people to see their own ugliness. “So that they can look at their own horrific ugliness, prejudices, biases, narrow-mindedness, et al. But you can’t hold a mirror like that anymore because people don’t want to look at it. Cinema and culture have to purify all things. There are viral clips showing big politicians abusing. But they are in denial about these don’t exist anymore,” the renowned filmmaker added.
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Alleging that most people making such decisions don’t know Hindi, Anurag added that even those who get offended don’t understand the language. Pointing out that the word “chu***a” basically means a stupid person and nothing more, he stated that since the CBFC is based in Maharashtra and people there don’t know Hindi, they have attributed unnecessary meanings to the word. “So, for my first film, I literally had to carry a Hindi shabdkosh (dictionary) with me. Now, they don’t even allow you to take your phone inside,” he added.
