Issue of Censorship

"Censorship is when a work of art expressing an idea which does not fall under current convention is seized, cut up, withdrawn, impounded, ignored, maligned, or otherwise made inaccessible to its audience."
The CBFC’s(Central Board of Film Certification) role has come under scrutiny over the last few days regarding the release of the movie Udta Punjab, in which it asked for cuts, including removal of all references to the state and its cities. This also put one question that whether CBFC is formed to give certification to films or put censor on them.
The CBFC is a body constituted under the Cinematograph Act, 1952. When it was created it was called the Board of Film Censors. Its powers of certifying a film for public consumption was introduced by way of an amendment in 1959. The Cinematograph Act prescribes that all movies aimed at “public exhibition” will be first examined by the CBFC. The Board can ask for parts of the movie to be cut or removed before showcasing it in public in case it is “against the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality, or involves defamation or contempt of court or is likely to incite the commission of any offence”.
In support of censorship:
Power of censorship was justified by the apex court when it said the CBFC had the right to ask for cuts while certifying a film. The question was decided by the Supreme Court, in the case of K.A. Abbas versus Union of India, in September 1970. That case involved Abbas’ documentary A Tale of Four Cities in which the CBFC asked for certain scenes to be cut. The award-winning filmmaker approached the Supreme Court saying the cuts asked for amounted to a violation of his freedom of expression. However, the court said films were a powerful media and had greater impact than books. It ruled that censorship, including cutting parts of movies before public release, was valid under the Constitution.
Censorship of pornographic material prevents the minds of children from becoming corrupt.
Religious conflicts are avoided by the censorship of material deemed insulting or offensive to a particular religious community.
It is useful in hiding sensitive military information, which could be used by an enemy state.
No censorship
A rational argument against censorship is that there is no pre-censorship on other modes of communications (e.g. print media). Also, not only do films face such censorship but also the guidelines for it are vague and arbitrary.
Certification is on the basis of the Cinematograph Act, 1952, which comprises a set of vague guidelines. The vagueness leaves scope for whimsical decisions by the Examining Committee, which comprises Advisory panel members from all walks of life
The tragedy of censorship in our country is that often, personal biases and prejudices come in the way of evaluating films for the Indian audience. Also, censorship seen as a weapon in the hands of the State to make people agree with its ideology.
All over the world films are graded not censored and that’s how it should be here as well. If we have a Censor Board appointed by the government then it’s likely that there will be interference. And this is most undesirable for a vibrant creative environment
There is no doubt that pornographic and violence ridden content affect the children most, but this data is freely available on internet. So, censorship on movies is not preventing children from the exposure of objectionable content.
Conclusion
The whole censorship and certification needs an overhaul to be in synchronous with the times and this would mean moving towards self-censorship as much as possible. Provisions should be there to take care of anomalies. Also, recommendation of Shyam Benegal committee should be implemented as soon as possible. Government must realize that it is the citizens who as autonomous entities must decide what to watch and what not to watch. The idea of government acting as a moral keeper of the society when it comes to films should be shunned.

By: Vishal