CBFC leaves KC Paul docu director guessing!

Kolkata: The local Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has come up with a new method to certify films. Instead of giving an intimation to a producer about the decision of the examination committee, the CBFC is expecting him to guess the report and file an application for review. The stumped director and producer of “The Geocentric Man” – the documentary on the self-proclaimed scientist who since the 1970s has had been plastering the walls of the city with the line “Sun revolves around the Earth once in 365 days” – will be writing to the CBFC chairperson for clarity.
When CBFC examines a film, the norm is to send a show cause notice to the producer stating the recommendations. It is the producer’s prerogative to accept them or approach the revising committee. In case of Suman Ghosh’s controversial Amartya Sen documentary titled “The Argumentative Indian”, the examination committee had suggested nine cuts. Ghosh’s producer hadn’t accepted it and then, applied for a review. This revising committee had then suggested only a single cut.
In case of “The Geocentric Man”, director Saumya Sengupta is still in the dark about the examination committee report. “I have not endorsed his views. I have merely documented his life. There is a disclaimer in the film too. Unofficially, I had heard that the documentary was rejected certification because it was ‘anti-scientific’. However, there has been no official communication. My producer was sent an online notification stating ‘pending for application for review of revising committee’. When we don’t even know the status of the report of the examination committee, is the CBFC expecting me to guess it and act accordingly?” Sengupta asked.
Last month, producer Amit Kumar Ganguly had received a notification stating: ‘The reason for refusal may please be elaborated and spelling of names in content may please be corrected. Resubmit only after the necessary correction are done’. “When we had approached the regional officer Samrat Bandopadhyay to explain what that meant, he had asked us to meet on February 13. Today, he refused to entertain any queries saying he is busy with screening. As a director, I am well within my rights to ask these questions. I have to now approach the CBFC chairperson to know what is happening,” said Sengupta.
Meanwhile, calls to Bandopadhyay went unanswered. When Paul was asked about his reaction to the CBFC fiasco, he said: “I had once called Nasa a donkey. I’ll call CBFC a donkey of a bigger size!”