CBFC denies ordering blurring of alcohol bottles, glasses

There’s a social media furore after reports that images of alcohol bottles and glasses containing alcohol have been blurred in the Hollywood film Ford v Ferrari. But the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has told Hindustan Times that they had no role in suggesting the blur.

Tushar Karmarkar, regional officer, CBFC, Mumbai, says, “This is completely baseless. No such cut was mentioned by CBFC in its communication to any applicants asking for modifications.”

However, the James Mangold directorial starring

Christian Bale and Matt Damon, got a U/A certificate with three suggested modifications, according to an official CBFC document, a copy of which is with HT. Among these are the muting of words such as ‘son of a wh**e’, ‘son of a ‘b*tch’, adding a space for the display of a CBFC certificate, and insertion of anti-smoking disclaimers and a static message wherever a smoking scene appears. But Karmarkar says, “It (the blurring) was voluntarily done by them (the studio), as per our records.”

Do CBFC guidelines insist that U/A films not show drinking or alcohol? Karmarkar explains, “Mere depiction is not objected. Glorification, if any, is seen in the light of guidelines.”

We reached out to the film’s producers, Disney, but there was no comment till we went to press. However, a HuffPost India report quoted a senior studio official saying, “You know the committee is going to send the print back with such cuts. Can’t do much about it.”

Industry sources say alcohol brands have often been blurred over surrogate advertising concerns. Even in the Vaddi Sharaban song (De De Pyaar De), CBFC asked its makers to replace an alcohol bottle with a flower bouquet.