Virgin to cow

Virgin to cow

Now the censor board wants to beep out Amartya Sen ¬ it's becoming dottier by the day
Maybe he sees himself as a superstar. It's not just that ever since Pahlaj Nihalani took office as the chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification in January 2015, it has been ceaselessly in the spotlight. That February itself he set both filmmakers and audiences to scratching their heads ¬ by objecting to “double meaning any kind of words (sic)“. But what couldn't have been known in those early days was how the dominion of sarkari scissorhands would expand in ever more capricious ways. Latest headlines concern an attempt to lord over The Argumentative Indian, a documentary on Amartya Sen.
CBFC wants to beep out the Nobel Laureate when he says `Gujarat', `Hindu India', `cow' and `Hindutva view of India'. This is passing strange. It's of course been going snip-snip on a galaxy of scenes and dialogue but one thought the general objection was to sexual or supposedly unsanskari material and swearing. Exactly what does the `Hindutva view of India' have in common with `virgin', `intercourse', `bastard', `saale' and `haramzade'? And since when has `cow' become akin to a curse word that should be beeped out?
For our filmmakers it's excruciating. They have created a cinema that stands tall in the world but is being knocked about at home, gutting a key source of Indian soft power. Udta Punjab had to face off girta censor. Lipstick Under My Burkha had to bust a gut to be unveiled. Centre must bring sanity back by implementing the counsel of the Shyam Benegal committee, whereby CBFC should certify films not censor them. Meanwhile Sen appreciates that even for people without an iota of interest in him, India's censor board has made The Argumentative Indian a film to watch.