Four letter cuss words peppered the dialogues in Aamir Khan’s Delhi Belly, the impulsive young bride in Tanu Weds Manu and the edgy youngsters on the loose in Shaitan and Pyaar Ka Punchnama spewed swear words this year, and now the middle finger is the attention-grabber.
After Ranbir Kapoor’s middle finger scene in Rockstar passed without glitches, Sonam Kapoor is in the news for showing her middle finger in the trailer of Abbas-Mustan’s forthcoming film Players. And it’s come as a surprise that the Censor Board, which cuts and blurs every possibly objectionable word or action, passed the middle finger gesture without any debate.
With the new crop of films from young filmmakers zooming in on mature and bold themes, is this indicative of a new-found liberal approach of the Censor Board? The green signal to these scenes is more surprising given that Rani Mukhejee’s middle finger scene in No One Killed Jessica was blurred.
Stating it to be a controversial topic to comment on, Leela Samson of Central Board of Film Certification, Mumbai, says, “All the rules and regulations taken into consideration to pass a film are listed on the board module and we abide by it. I have nothing more to say.”
While filmmakers feel that the Censor Board is turning liberal in its approach, they also feel that such gestures are new ways to grab eyeballs.
Raj Kumar Gupte, of NOKJ fame, says, “Though the middle finger gesture was blurred in my film, it didn’t make a difference to me. I accepted the fact that such acts shouldn’t be shown on big screens. Also, the Censor Board relies on the uniformity of the opinions of their members. However, I feel any visual or word in context of the film should be accepted. Times have changed and the Censor Board is opening up to issues. It is turning receptive to visuals and gestures that could be a representation of reality. The middle finger is common among youth, who are the real audience of new-age cinema. Such scenes are no more considered offensive. ”
But Madhureeta Anand, director of the film Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye, feels the role of the Censor Board needs to be changed. “They are turning liberal and giving room to filmmakers to express themselves, but that’s not the solution in the long run. Policing a film and cutting or removing scenes shouldn’t be their duty. The Censor Board should simply give grades to the movie (A or U) according to the script. Altering film should be completely the director’s discretion,” she adds.
Seconds Vasundhara Mudgil, a movie buff, “There’s always the option of giving it a rating, and it’s up to audiences whether they want to adhere to it or not. But honestly, the youth wants to see themselves in movies; and the way we talk and emote comes out so realistically in movies like Delhi Belly (and even our parents’ generation prefers to watch this genre of movies over the soppy ones). I feel the Censor Board has just got more sensible.”