CBFC CAN’T TAKE 68 DAYS TO CERTIFY FILM: BOLLYWOOD

Filmmakers argue the post production of a film usually ends a few days before release; 68day rule impractical

The release of filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ambitious project, Padmavati, which was to release on December 1, has been postponed by the makers. This is following protests by factions that feel that a part of Rajput history has been distorted in this film. But, besides the protests, the film has also run into trouble with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), which has invoked the 68-day rule just before the film’s initially planned release date. The rule implies that the Board needs at least 68 days to certify a film. The Board has suddenly put into effect this rule which apparently existed all these years, but was never applied.

Anurag Srivastav, CEO of CBFC, tells us, “We are not necessarily going to take 68 days. But if makers say they have a release tomorrow and apply for certification today, it becomes difficult for us. The number of applications are huge, especially in Mumbai, there’s so much backlog. ” About Padmavati he says, “We could not certify it, since the makers had not mentioned the disclaimer in the application, whether the film is fiction, or based on facts and history. They have to put it there.”

Bollywood filmmakers argue that this rule is going to affect the process of making films, since in some cases, a release date is announced, but the post-production work is so much that the film gets completed just days before the release. Gauri Shinde, whose film Dear Zindagi had run into trouble last year due to the ban on Pakistani artists (Ali Zafar had a role in the film), says, “The process of making a film and finding a release date is in itself difficult. Festivals like Eid and Diwali are already taken, so small films hardly have any hope. The way things are going, I hope we don’t stop making films! ”

Filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia adds, “Filmmaking is an uncertain business, as dates keep getting shuffled, there are so many things involved. Sometimes the film gets ready just one week before the release!” Hansal Mehta says, “In the past CBFC had been functioning efficiently, there’s no reason to take 68 days. They cannot use procedural strategies to delay a film just because they want the ‘problem’ around the film to settle down.”

I don’t know how practical that is. In London a film is certified in a week. Why shouldn’t we? HANSAL MEHTA, FILMMAKER

Filmmaking is an uncertain business... sometimes the film gets ready one week before the release TIGMANSHU DHULIA, FILMMAKER

Deepika Padukone in a still from Padmavati