No one notices when we’re liberal: Pahlaj Nihalani

Vishal Bhardwaj’s Rangoon features several kisses including one where Shahid Kapoor and Kangana Ranaut make out on the beach. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC aka Censor Board) in India gave the film a UA rating, which means any child can watch the film as long as they’re accompanied by an adult.

In the UK, the same film has got an A12 rating, which simply means that children below the age of 12 cannot watch the film. In Singapore, that rating goes even harsher. The film was rated NC16 in that country, which means no children under 16 are allowed to see the film.

Censor chief Pahlaj Nihalani scoffed when asked to comment on the ‘disparity’ in rating and added, “We are sneered at here for being sanskari and over-conservative. But we’ve been more liberal in the censor certification of films like Befikre, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Rangoon than many countries abroad. But of course, no one notices when we’re liberal. Labelling us primitive and over-conservative is far more fashionable than discovering that we can be more liberal than the so-called first-world countries.”