#dnaEdit: Thoughtless control

Leela Samson’s resignation as Central Board for Film Certification chairperson hardly comes as a surprise, considering the state of affairs at the CBFC. Samson’s tenure ended last April but neither did she offer to resign nor did the information and broadcasting(I&B) ministry show any urgency to identify an appropriate replacement or give her an extension. Samson was purportedly miffed by the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal(FCAT) overturning the CBFC’s denial of certification to Messenger of God (MSG), a film starring the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. However, Samson herself blamed the “interference in the working of the CBFC by the ministry, through an ‘additional charge’ Chief Executive Officer, and corrupt panel members”. She also alleged that this had “caused a degradation of those values that the CBFC board members and Chairperson stood for”. These are serious charges about the functioning of a statutory body by its outgoing senior official, also an eminent artiste, and must not be lightly dismissed as baseless allegations raised by an UPA-era appointee. 

It is improbable that Samson, having served on other public bodies, would stake her reputation on cynically undermining an institution. One other CBFC member Nandini Sardesai has backed Samson on the corruption allegations. Sardesai wondered how the FCAT that normally takes 15 to 30 days to clear a film did so in 24 hours, in a case where the board had collectively decided that the film, MSG, was not suitable for public viewing.

Typically, the I&B ministry has responded in a defensive manner without even bothering to conduct a prima facie assessment of Samson’s claims. The minister of state Rajyavardhan Rathore has even made a laughable assertion that Samson was on the panel that appointed the disgraced former CBFC CEO Rakesh Kumar, who was later arrested by the CBI for demanding a bribe to release a film from Chhattisgarh on a priority basis. It is common knowledge that the ministry makes appointments to the CBFC and its regional offices. Samson and several filmmakers have complained that many positions at regional offices are lying vacant and that the CBFC organisation requires twice its present strength to cater to the increased output of films. It is this artificial scarcity that feeds into corruption, forcing producers to resort to bribery to get their films cleared quickly.

Rather than beefing up this bureaucracy, the government can consider dismantling it completely in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “minimum government” slogan. Does India need a CBFC when no such body exists to vet books? In the US, the Motion Picture Association of America, an industry body, assigns film ratings. However, unlike the US which is more worried about children watching content unsuitable to their age, the Indian establishment also judges film and television content from their potential to cause offence or disrupt political and social status-quo. No wonder, that in media and popular parlance, the CBFC is known as the Censor Board.

The CBFC apparently denied clearance for MSG on grounds that the Dera godman depicts himself as god, and the film portrays him performing miracles and curing diseases without any logic to substantiate them. So what? Every week, several films release across India, some insulting, and some stimulating, the viewer’s intelligence. The film-going audience in India has evolved from the times when yesteryear South Indian matinee idols MG Ramachandran, NT Rama Rao and Rajkumar were considered by many as demigods, a fact which facilitated MGR’s and NTR’s successful political forays. The negative consequence of the State condoning censorship is that it emboldens citizens to follow suit. The protests against MSG, PK and author Perumal Murugan tell us that much.