I&B Ministry wakes up to Shyam Benegal's report

The CBFC’s refusal to certify Alankrita Shrivastava’s Lipstick Under My Burkha has stirred quite a controversy. While Pahlaj Nihalani, the chairman of CBFC, and his team refused to certify the film, quoting the plot to be ‘lady oriented and the presence of contanious sexual content’, it has shaken veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who had submitted the Shyam Benegal Committee Report, on October, 2016.The report had suggested possible role changes of the CBFC. Following the article that was published in Pune Times on February 24, Benegal contacted the Ministry to get clarity on the status of the Committee report.

“When I called the Ministry on Monday, they finally informed me that they are going to send me a note, with recommendations and the required changes they want. Only after this can it be an Act and be cleared in the parliament. The note will reach me in a couple of days. They are also sending me a report as to why it was delayed,” said Benegal, who has been waiting for the Ministry’s approval for over four months now. Though he was patient enough to wait for the Ministry to revert, CBFC’s decision to not certify Lipstick..., hasn’t gone down well with the veteran filmmaker, who slammed the decision. He added, “We need to clear the state of the report. Though there is a legal process to channelise the same, Mr Nihalani’s sudden decision clearly suggests that he is following the old rules.”

While CBFC has denied certification of the film, the director of Lipstick Under My Burkha is touring the world with it. Alankrita Shrivastava, who is presently in London, will be screening her film at the Miami Film Festival next. She said, “I do not know the update about the screening for the Tribunal (FCAT). I am travelling presently and have received accolades for the film. I will be able to give an update once I am back in India, as we are following the procedures.” The film also bagged the Audience Award at the Glasgow Film Festival recently.

The Shyam Benegal Committee Report laid down a holistic approach towards the certification of films and incorporated creative and artistic freedom. The panel, headed by Shyam Benegal and members like Kamal Haasan, filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, ad-man Piyush Pandey, film critic Bhawana Somaaya, director Goutam Ghose and NFDC Managing Director Nina Lath Gupta, limits CBFC’s role to only certifying films and whose scope should be restricted to categorising the suitability of the film to audience groups on the basis of age and maturity. Also artistic expression and creative freedom are not unduly curbed in the process of classification of films.