'Porn not freedom of expression'

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="20.6%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" fdfdfd=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/359627.cms" alt="/photo/359627.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" fdfdfd=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="">Shefali Zariwala in the controversial music video </span><span style="" font-size:="" font-style:="" italic="">Kaanta Laga</span></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal">NEW DELHI: As the controversy regarding censorship of music videos rages on, a former chairman of the Censor Board, defends the need for a ''Scissorian Operation'' saying it is a must keeping in mind the vast multitude of viewers in the country.<br /><br />Video, <a href="http://health.indiatimes.com/articleshow/359426.cms" target="_blank">cable TV</a> and offensive entertainment has today entered the bedrooms and is making a mockery of censorship, we need to understand Censor''s work given the vast multitude of viewers and the difference in their educational, cultural and economic background, says Aparna Mohile, former chairman, Central Board of Film Censors.<br /><br />Given the vast diversity of perceptions, combined with the cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity in the country, there is no wonder that the censor board always finds itself at the centre of some controversy or the other and always at the receiving end, says Mohile.(<a href="/mailro/359378.cms">Should viewers be left alone to decide what to watch?</a>)<br /><br />"Freedom of expression is necessary but this cannot be confused with the exploitative licence, for commercial purposes, of playing upon the basic instincts of sensitive millions and feeding them with sadistic and masochistic pieces or large chunks of <a href="http://health.indiatimes.com/articlelist/1152076.cms" target="_blank">sex</a> or violence in the garb of entertainment," she says.<br /><br />Such sadistic pieces ultimately lower the taste and value fibre of the society something that sets out a negative process and ultimately destroys it, she says.<br /><br />Censor''s scissors were compared by eminent film-maker K A Abbas to the barber''s and the way they are wielded has always generated controversy but Mohile says its sparing use can cause lot of problems.<br /></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -3"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="71.9%"> <colgroup> <col width="49.1%" /> <col width="50.4%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="2" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">PEOPLE WHO READ THIS STORY ALSO READ...</span></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="49.1%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" e3f1ff=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/359628.cms" alt="/photo/359628.cms" border="0" /><span style="" font-size:=""> </span><a href="/articleshow/357082.cms" target="_blank">Beyond boundaries: A dream team</a></div> </td> <td width="50.4%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" e3f1ff=""> <div class="Normal"><#img src="/photo/359628.cms" alt="/photo/359628.cms" border="0" /><span style="" font-size:=""> </span><a href="/articleshow/356584.cms" target="_blank">Porn fuels Kenya''s Internet boom</a></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="49.1%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" e3f1ff=""> <div class="Normal"><#img src="/photo/359628.cms" alt="/photo/359628.cms" border="0" /><span style="" font-size:=""> </span><a href="/articleshow/357044.cms" target="_blank">My desires are endless: Shah Rukh</a></div> </td> <td width="50.4%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" e3f1ff=""> <div class="Normal"><#img src="/photo/359628.cms" alt="/photo/359628.cms" border="0" /><span style="" font-size:=""> </span><a href="/articleshow/357118.cms" target="_blank">Camaraderie in Karachi</a></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br /></div> </div><div class="section3"><div class="Normal"><br />"Censorship is not mathematics, where two and two are four. The whole thing is in the nature of a value judgement and is highly subjective," she says noting any work has to be seen in the light of total impact and censor cannot base its decision on fragmented scenes and visuals.<br /><br />Moreover, the certification then given is also not a comment on the quality of the film or an endorsement of the views expressed by it. It only means that a film is not likely to have, in the opinion of the board, any potentially dangerous impact on the viewers, Mohile says.<br /><br />"Mere absurdity and foolishness are beyond the reach of the censor''s scissors. But innuendoes and racist and sexual bias bordering on depravity have to be objected to," says Mohile.<br /><br />In the days of information revolution, a youngster is influenced by TV, films, cable, video and internet and the ''offensive'' visuals have directly entered the drawing rooms for viewing by the entire family.<br /><br />Experiments have proved that while pure pornography may not be very harmful, aggressive pornography — a combination of sex and violence — certainly do immense damage and influenced people to commit sexual crimes, says Mohile.<br /><br />Thus the real problem faced by the cinema regulation authorities all over the world is not whether such regulation is legal but whether it is reasonable.<br /><br />So long as restrictions are reasonable and levied not in a dictatorial manner but by a set of responsible, liberal-minded and sensible people and ultimately accountable to it, there is nothing wrong with censorship, she says.<br /></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -3"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="71.9%"> <colgroup> <col width="49.1%" /> <col width="50.4%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="2" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">PEOPLE WHO READ THIS STORY ALSO READ...</span></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="49.1%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" e3f1ff=""> <div class="Normal"><#img src="/photo/359628.cms" alt="/photo/359628.cms" border="0" /><span style="" font-size:=""> </span><a href="/articleshow/357082.cms" target="_blank">Beyond boundaries: A dream team</a></div> </td> <td width="50.4%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" e3f1ff=""> <div class="Normal"><#img src="/photo/359628.cms" alt="/photo/359628.cms" border="0" /><span style="" font-size:=""> </span><a href="/articleshow/356584.cms" target="_blank">Porn fuels Kenya''s Internet boom</a></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="49.1%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" e3f1ff=""> <div class="Normal"><#img src="/photo/359628.cms" alt="/photo/359628.cms" border="0" /><span style="" font-size:=""> </span><a href="/articleshow/357044.cms" target="_blank">My desires are endless: Shah Rukh</a></div> </td> <td width="50.4%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" e3f1ff=""> <div class="Normal"><#img src="/photo/359628.cms" alt="/photo/359628.cms" border="0" /><span style="" font-size:=""> </span><a href="/articleshow/357118.cms" target="_blank">Camaraderie in Karachi</a></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"></div> </div>