Indian censor board goes beep beep

CBFC chairman issues circular prohibiting use of certain words

The chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), Pahlaj Nihalani has sent the Producers’ Association and Regional Officers a list of words that should not be used in movies reported the Times Of India.

The circular issued by the CBFC read, “It has been noticed that some of the objectionable words/abusive words are not still deleted from the films. The details of such words are given below. All ROs (regional officers) are directed not to allow such words in any category of the certificate. This is also applicable to regional languages films.” Another talking point of the circular was that the CBFC forbid from Mumbai being referred to as Bombay in the movies. The circular has attracted a lot of criticism from various quarters of the social media.

Independent filmmaker Onir took to his Twitter to share his views on the situation tweeting that, “Future of Indian Cinema is bleak. That is reacting to the new guidelines of the Film Certification Board.” Nihalani has previously also spoken out against showing nudity on television and internet.

“Nudity is available online and on certain TV programs like live fashion shows. It should be in sync with the rules followed in films. There should be one policy for nudity (portrayal of sex in films),” stated Nihalani. The chairman of the CBFC added that while TV content goes through a certification process many of the live programs are subject to self-regulation. “The self-regulation is not being followed. There is vulgarity on TV and it should be controlled,” said Nihalani.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 14^th, 2015.

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