CBFC Certification | Committee stresses on balance between sensibility and freedom of artistic expression in films
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The Parliamentary Committee headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on the subject of review of the functioning of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) said this in its report tabled in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
New Delhi. A committee of Parliament has termed the curbs and excessive regulation on films as wrong, and said that in a culturally diverse country like India, creativity, freedom of artistic expression should be taken into account while making and showing films while taking into account the sensitivity of the people of the country. It is necessary to strike a balance with The Parliamentary Committee headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on the subject of review of the functioning of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) said this in its report tabled in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The Committee, while examining the subject, found that the discussion mainly revolved around the controversy whether cuts or modifications should be made while certifying the films.
It should be purely based on the certification model without any cuts or modifications and should not have any regulation. The Committee noted that most of the film industry stakeholders have voiced their opposition to any form of regulation and desired minimal regulation i.e. certification only. It justified this by stating that certification provides choice to viewers and not coercion of content. As per the report, the committee received different views regarding the content to be viewed on the OTP. One view was that there should be one rule for content viewed on all platforms and thus no monitoring mechanism should be applicable for content on OTT (Over the Top) as well.
While the other view was that the content of the film should also be self-regulated like OTP. Examining the role of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in this regard, the committee found that the board is mostly dealing with certification and not censorship. CBFC informed that many times filmmakers themselves offer to make cuts or modifications in order to get certificate under certain categories as sometimes filmmakers are unaware that a particular scene violates any rule or section of the Act. infringing or not. The committee expressed concern that the number of films that were cleared without cuts has been decreasing rapidly over the years and the number of disputes over film certification has increased. In this regard, a member of the CBFC told the committee that regulation is a scary word for actors or content creators in the media or film industry. He said that in the absence of any monitoring mechanism in a country like India, the main concern would remain in the form of exposure of unwanted content to children.
According to the report, taking into account the statement of a stakeholder that the rights of creative freedom and expression of filmmakers should be protected, the Committee feels that Article 19(1) of the Constitution, along with the right to freedom of expression (a) that there are reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the rights conferred by s. Accordingly, during the deliberations on the issue of certification, the CBFC member told the committee that each country has cultural characteristics, for example in France, female, male nudity is not a problem but gangster films are. Similarly, some subjects may be controversial issues in other countries, but no country can be detached from its tradition.
The committee feels that in a culturally diverse country like India, there is a need to consider the sensitivities of the people of the country while making and showing films and hence consultation and certification is also necessary. According to the report, the committee is of the view that easy access to violent and obscene material will reduce sensitivity and especially affect children, the result of which cannot be compared with monetary gains.
According to the report, the committee also feels that curbs and excessive regulation at this juncture would be grossly wrong. The Committee is of the view that the Ministry of Information Broadcasting, the CBFC and the film industry have a greater responsibility to strike a balance between freedom of thought, creativity, artistic expression and be sensitive to the cultural diversity of the country and the implications of the film’s content . It added, “The Committee hopes that the Ministry and the CBFC, along with the film fraternity, will make all efforts to achieve the balance.
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