Amartya Sen can’t say ‘cow’, ‘Gujarat’ in documentary, rules censor board


Kolkata, Jul 12 (PTI): The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has verbally communicated to a film maker to mute four words including 'cow' in his documentary on Amartya Sen, the director said.

The four words CBFC's regional office here wanted to be muted are 'Gujarat', 'cow', 'Hindutva view of India' and 'Hindu India', Suman Ghosh, director of the documentary 'The Argumentative Indian', told PTI.

"After sitting for three hours at the Censor Board office in Kolkata, during which my documentary was screened and the members scrutinised every single shot, I was verbally told last night to mute four words 'Gujarat', 'cow', 'Hindutva view of India' and 'Hindu India' for getting U/A certificate,’ Gosh said. ‘I expressed my inability to them," he said.

Taking out certain words from the discussion between Sen and the interviewer, economist Kaushik Basu, would remove the soul of the documentary, Ghosh said.

"I am waiting for their written communication and whether they will send the film to review committee in Mumbai. In any situation my response will be the same," he said.

"These days films get online certification. So I hope the issue gets resolved quickly. But no question of taking out some words," he added.

Contacted, a member of the CBFC here said, "Nothing to comment to the media on what the director said."

In the documentary, Sen speaks of social choice theory, development economics, philosophy and the rise of right wing nationalism across the world including India.

It has been made over a span of 15 years from 2002 and is structured as a conversation between Sen and his student economist Kaushik Basu.

  

Top Stories

Comment on this article

  • SMR, Karkala

    Thu, Jul 13 2017

    For those who associate Nihalani with the MSG-type videos he produced for Narendra Modi (he says the PM is his action hero) during the Lok Sabha campaign; let me tell you that a few decades ago our censor board chief was among Bollywood’s top film producers, specialising in films inspired by Dada Kondke.
    Nihalani’s films were among the pioneers of the pelvis-thrust-in, bust- thrust-out choreography that later ushered in the sarkae-lo-khatiya age of Indian cinema. In his 1992-93 film Aankhen, Shilpa Shirodkar swayed so suggestively to ‘Khet gaye Baba, Bazaar gayee maa; akeli hun ghar ma tu aaja balma' that many cinema owners were forced to lock the loos to keep out the jerks in the audience from spending too much time inside.
    Here are the top three songs of the film, as they appear in the album: Khada hai, khada hai, khada hai (a visibly aroused Anil Kapoor urging his newly-wed wife Juhi Chawla to open the door with understandable urgency); Le lo, le lo mera; and Ye (originally mein) maal gaadi mujhe dhakka laga (the aforementioned wife urging the husband to push fast as the engine had become hot and now it needs to reach the destination). Another one, featuring Anil Kapoor and Karishma Kapoor (his student in the film), announced the duo’s intention that ‘roz karenge hum karenge ku ku ku ku.’
    And if you thought that his bout of morality was limited to just what the last alphabet in AIB stands for, Nihalani has now issued a fatwa banning 36 words in Indian cinema.
    During Congress regime CBFC's has no issues. Since PM Modi's 2014 election campaigners taken over they have objection of using 'cow' to 'intercourse.
    Obviously, Indian viewers are intelligent enough to know what to accept and what to reject. And they also know which finger is to be shown to a self-sanctimonious hypocrite, provided this gesture is not in Nihalani’s list of 36.
    Perhaps one fine day they will remove 'ban' from English dictionary.
    Jai Hind

    DisAgree Agree Reply Report Abuse

  • Kevin, Mangalore

    Thu, Jul 13 2017

    The BJP government is afraid of an open national debate on cow vigilantism.

    DisAgree Agree [2] Reply Report Abuse

  • Kevin, Mangalore

    Thu, Jul 13 2017

    There is no hope for Indian democracy if a free discussion of issues that affect every Indian citizen is prohibited.

    DisAgree Agree [1] Reply Report Abuse

  • Jossey Saldanha, Mumbai

    Wed, Jul 12 2017

    India's total Development platform evolves round the COW ...

    DisAgree [2] Agree [13] Reply Report Abuse

  • S.M. Nawaz Kukkikatte, Dubai

    Wed, Jul 12 2017

    Hitler policy

    DisAgree [1] Agree [10] Reply Report Abuse


Leave a Comment

Title: Amartya Sen can’t say ‘cow’, ‘Gujarat’ in documentary, rules censor board



You have 2000 characters left.

Disclaimer:

Please write your correct name and email address. Kindly do not post any personal, abusive, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful or similar comments. Daijiworld.com will not be responsible for any defamatory message posted under this article.

Please note that sending false messages to insult, defame, intimidate, mislead or deceive people or to intentionally cause public disorder is punishable under law. It is obligatory on Daijiworld to provide the IP address and other details of senders of such comments, to the authority concerned upon request.

Hence, sending offensive comments using daijiworld will be purely at your own risk, and in no way will Daijiworld.com be held responsible.