Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani speaks out on 'curse list'

You’re being criticised for laying down rules against verbal and visual violence when in the past films like Bandit Queen and Sholay became classics inspite of the strong visual and verbal content?

Those who are sitting pontificating on news channel debates on the Censor Board’s double standards should do their homework. They don’t know what immense troubles Sholay and Bandit Queen had to go through. For Sholay, Rajiv Gandhi had to intervene. Imagine a classic like Ganga Jumna, which had no bad language, needed the intervention of the then-CM of Maharashtra YB Chavan before it could be passed.

But some characters and films are inherently violent and abusive. If we have a film like the forthcoming NH10 where a woman is shown taking on the goons on a highway, there is bound to be violence?

The guidelines are very simple and straight. However we will see the context of the violence and then decide how much of it is permissible. But a violent situation need not be shown explicitly. Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya was about gangsters. How many abusive words were used by the characters? In my film Mitti Aur Sona, the 1990s’ star​ Sonam played a prostitute but didn’t abuse even once. Mahesh Manjrekar was asked by the then Censor Chairperson Asha Parekh to clean out all the expletives in Vaastav.

You’re saying there is a precedent for films requiring cleaning out?

I am saying my predecessors Sharmila Tagore and Leela Samson de-centralized responsibilities to such an extent that there was little evidence of any leadership in the Censor Board. For nine years the Censor Board functioned arbitrarily. And now when I am trying to function as a chairperson there’s an uproar because I’m trying to do my job.

Your critics are raking up your past films like Andaz to prove your double standards.

Firstly I didn’t direct Andaz. I was the producer. It was directed by David Dhawan. Us waqt daur chala tha David ke raunchy gaanon ke 'sarkai lo khaitiya' ke baad. I agree there was an uproar about a song in Andaz ('Khada hai khada hai'). But what my critics don’t know is that I voluntarily removed the song from the film after there was an outcry because I didn’t want to offend the audience.

You removed it on your own? Then why did you have it in the film in the first place?

It was never meant to be vulgar. It was inspired by the song 'Tere dwar khada ek jogi' from the Hemant Kumar composed soundtrack of Nagin. Let me reiterate that the song was approved by the Censor Board. After there was a controversy the then chairperson of the CBFC Shakti Samanta viewed the song and again and let it remain. Finally it was Shatruji’s wife Poonam bhabhi who convinced me that there was no sense in offending the public. That’s when I took it out of the film. But when we had shot the film there was no vulgarity, no double meaning in the song.

Your critics say a lot of the content in your films was vulgar?

My Andaz was appreciated by teachers all across country. It was about the sacred relationship between a teacher and student. The film was targeted for vulgarity, but the Censor Board cleared it. Still I deleted the offending song.

That song is now being held against you?

Isn’t it ironical that participants on news channels call me outdated and prudish when they can’t bring themselves to say the title of the offensive song from my film in Andaz. Nor can they repeat the abusive words which I’ve sent out as guidelines for producers to follow. Yet they consider me hypocritical for banning those very words. The words that those experts on television can’t say on air are, according to them, okay in our films? So who is hypocritical?

The voices against you say that you are not worthy of being the chairperson because of the kind of films that you’ve made.

Who decides my worthiness? Some self-appointed liberals who scream at each other on news channels? Do they know I produced a film Bhai Bhai in 1997 which propagated communal amity and was in fact appreciated by then PM of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif who conveyed his appreciation to our then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee?

Censor Board members like Ashoke Pandit are openly going against you on public forums?

Let him criticise me even more in public. I know what he is doing is against all governmental policies. He is not supposed to speak out against internal policies. And it’s not in my power to discipline him. The Ministry Of Information & Broadcasting will take note of all his rants and deal with them suitably. When they speak against the Censor Board guidelines they are going against the government, not me.

How will you cope with the onslaught of criticism?

I am performing my duties as per the government’s guidance. I will continue to do my work until the government wants me to. In my entire career as a movie producer I never made a vulgar film. There is not a single vulgar shot in my cinema.