The CBFC chairman and board members were at loggerheads over several administrative decisions of CBFC
The long-awaited board meeting of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) on Friday in Mumbai turned into a battlefield of sorts as heated discussions over many of its pending issues forced chairman Pahlaj Nihalani to walk out of the meeting once.
According to sources, there was a massive showdown between Nihalani and board members like Ashok Pandit, Chandraprakash Dwivedi and Mihir Bhuta as important issues like piracy of films, their censoring, plans for online submission of films and other policy issues were discussed.
According to sources, several members raised their voices against the CBFC's decision of making submission of films to CBFC in a compulsory DCB-KDM format, instead of DVDs, for filmmakers. Citing piracy concerns, the CBFC had recently asked for all films to be submitted in the encrypted format which apparently will minimise chances of a leak, since it takes a much longer time to get copied.
Board members objecting to the decision said there is no such rule in the Cinematograph Act that allows the CBFC to make the format compulsory.
"Moreover, we were never asked before the decision was taken. It will also cost an extra Rs60,000 to Rs70,000 that would be a burden for smaller filmmakers," said a board member present in the meeting.
"Even for administrative decisions like online certification of films, the CBFC is acting on their whims and fancies without keeping board members in the loop. In the meeting, they just wanted a go-ahead from the members for their administrative decisions to which many board members strongly objected," a source said.
However, the CBFC maintained that the board had asked for the members' comments on many of the decisions but nobody responded.
There were discussions over the CBFC's method of changing certifications of films for TV, something for which it was recently implicated by the CAG. While the CAG report has said that there is no provision in the Cinematograph Act about conversion of film categories for TV, the CBFC has long been changing certification of films for TV.
The Udta Punjab controversy was also raised during the meeting, where a member spoke about the redundancy of the CBFC in certifying films, if all filmmakers like Anurag Kashyap starts going to courts to get their films cleared. However, there was not much discussion on the topic, since it was not part of the meeting agenda.
Given that the board meeting was taking place in almost a year, members unanimously decided to hold board meeting once every three months.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Pahlaj Nihalani")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}