'Padmavati' release delayed, will Salman Khan's 'Tiger Zinda Hai' be postponed too?

The sudden and erratic decision of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to implement ‘submit your films 68-days in advance if you want a censor certificate on time’ has caught a lot of producers unawares. Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the studio behind Padmavati, has voluntarily deferred the release date of the film from December 1. The rule may also affect the release of big projects like Tiger Zinda Hai. Bollywood and Hollywood studios are completely unsure of the fate of their films. All of them are wondering what has prompted this sudden implementation of this new ‘procedure’ that was not practised in the immediate past.

A senior official from a film studio said, “Nobody is denying that there was always a rule to say that films need to be submitted for certification 68-days in advance. However, there has always been a difference between rule and convention. As far as the industry was concerned, the convention was that normally films go in for certification just about 22 days before the release date.”

Helping the producers

Another insider points out that everybody was practical enough to realise that films are released under tremendous pressure and you can’t run the censorship process independent of the release of the film. So, even the CBFC officials tried to bend the rules a bit to help producers. Of course, there are those who think that the new change is a tactic to delay the release of Padmavati.

Disgruntled filmmakers are asking questions to the CBFC to show them a list of films that have actually been cleared by them keeping the 68-days procedure. Not to forget, there have been cases when films have been cleared in one day or cleared out of turn so that the release of the film is not delayed. An example is Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan’s Messenger of God that was cleared within a day, leading to the resignation of the then chairperson, Leela Samson.

Following procedure?

It is being suggested that as per the Cinematograph Act — the Chairman may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, relax the time-limits prescribed by this rule for the performance of any act — if he is satisfied that it is necessary to do so to avoid any undue hardship. Also, if one looks at rule 41 of the Act, the entire procedure if followed, is definitely less than 68 days. But Prasoon Joshi is reportedly following procedure.

New date to be announced soon

A spokesperson from Viacom18, says, “We are a responsible, law-abiding corporate citizen and have the highest respect and regard for the law of the land and all our institutions and statutory bodies including the Central Board of Film Certification. We always have and are committed to continue following the established procedure and convention. We have faith that we will soon obtain the requisite clearances to release the film. We will announce the revised release date of the film in due course.”

What former CBFC chairpersons say...

Pahlaj Nihalani

It is an old law and after the online certificate has come into place, applications are filed round-the-clock, hence, the board is overloaded with work, with the dubbed version of South and Hindi films for certification to be played on satellite channels. Since it is online, there is no way they can jump the queue as there will be trouble during the audit, citing corruption and favouritism towards the producers, so, nobody is going to take the risk of clearing films out of turn. When I was the chief, I used to schedule the application with fair knowledge of the film industry. I would know which film has a better chance of release; I used to schedule accordingly and accommodate people. As for Prasoon Joshi, he is a writer so he does not really know producers whom I knew, but he also cannot do anything with the new system. I also know that the post-production work on Padmavati is still going on and they will have to submit the final print of the film for certification.

Asha Parekh

Producers come to the CBFC at the last minute with their films, so the implementation of this rule is good in a way, but also a bit dicey at the same time. Producers will have to wait for two months to get the certificate. I wonder how they’re going to do it. 

Especially with bookings of theatre, this is going to be difficult. I don’t see this to be workable; let’s see how the producers react.

Leela Samson

Even before Messenger of God, there was an assurance that the CBFC would certify films within four weeks from the time of application. During a dull spell, a film could be cleared in a week also and during peak festival seasons, we had to have multiple camps to clear a large number of films. Even so, to jump the queue, we got producers who submitted late and wanted a certification immediately, to procure in writing an okay from all those producers whose films were waiting in line before him for certification. However, a collusion between agents of the producers and junior officers at the CBFC was often remarked upon and films were cleared at a short notice.