The controversies that the Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has embroiled in the past few years are too many. The classic example is last year’s Bollywood film ‘Udta Punjab’, which was released after the makers approached the court. Now, the CBFC has received another embarrassing blow.
The Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) has directed the CBFC to grant an ‘A’ certificate to Hindi film “Lipstick Under My Burkha”, which was earlier denied a certificate. The film was dubbed by the censor board as too “lady oriented” in content and refused a certificate citing the film’s sexual content.
Responding to the makers’ appeal, the FCAT said that CBFC “misdirected themselves in denying certification on the ground that the story of the film is women oriented. There cannot be any embargo on a film being women oriented or containing sexual fantasies and expression of the inner desires of women. If the aspect of sexual desires and their expression is sensitively handled without bringing coarseness, vulgarity or obscenity, pandering prurient tendencies, then it is not to be disallowed.”
CBFC is losing its significance as filmmakers continue to prove how old fashioned and imbecile its guidelines are.
