Varthamanam cleared by Censor Board revising committee

Parvathy-starrer

Varthamanam

received good news a week after the regional

Censor Board

board denied the film certification on the grounds of being “anti-national”. The Delhi Central Censor Board revising committee has now given the go-ahead for the screening of the film, which is set for a February release, according to the makers.

Director Sidhartha Siva and scriptwriter Aryadan Shoukat who announced the revising committee decision at a press conference in Kochi, called it a victory for cinema lovers and secularists, and called for the removal of BJP leader Adv V Sandeep Kumar from the Censor Board, which they said they would take up with the board. They said the denying of certification on these grounds is “a first such incident in Malayalam cinema”. They further alleged that Sandeep Kumar had said that the film was denied certification as Shaukat - who is also a Congress leader - had scripted the film.

The film tells of the political undercurrents at JNU where a Malayali student, played by Parvathy is doing research on freedom fighter Mohammed Abdurahman Saheb. “How can a film that conveys a clear message of the need for unity amid political and religious turmoil be depicted as anti-national? How does it become anti-national to speak about a freedom fighter? This is cultural fascism. Should we provide religion and caste certificates along with the film to the Censor Board? The Censor Board should have members who understand the value of cinema, not those with a communal bent,” said Shoukat, adding that this was a fight against the censorship of any art that is denied space because it does not comply with the beliefs of a certain section.

The revising committee has not cut any scenes, but has muted five-seconds in a dialogue, said Sidhartha Siva, who is a National Award-winning director. Shoukat too, had ironically won the National Award for Best Film on National Integration for his 2005 Prithviraj-Bhavana starrer Daivanamathil.