‘Censorship in India needs to be holistic’

Director Imtiaz Ali rebuffs film cuts, says the movie loses its original appeal

KOLKATA: Filmmaker Imtiaz Ali suggested that censorship in India must become more holistic and take the restrictions on other mediums of communication, via which viewers can access the censored content, under consideration. “I feel censorship of movies should also look at the censorship of various other mediums of communication that the audience is used to,” said Ali at the Kolkata Literary Meet on Friday.

Responding to a question regarding whether or not India’s censorship policy takes away the audience’s liberty to choose the movies they want to watch, the Tamasha director batted for an overall point of view rather than just adhering to strict points. “So if there is free flowing information, let’s say on Torrents or the internet and I can get to see anything, then it will discourage me from going and watching that movie,” explained Ali. “So, it has to be more holistic. You can’t be very clerical about it as you need to have a motive rather than have certain very strict points,” he said.



The audience member who proposed the question had been referring to the cuts in Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight as “severe”. He claimed the film had been reduced to a point where it didn’t look like a typical Tarantino movie. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th,  2016.

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