Censor board is deaf, says Vishal Bhardwaj

Vishal Bhardwaj on Saturday said that censor board gives a "deaf" ear to concerns of filmmakers.

writer-director, who has faced troubles with Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in past, said films are a "soft target" for anything and everything that goes wrong with society.

When asked for his reaction on possibility of censorship creeping into digital medium, Bhardwaj said, "Did y listen to us when put ' smoking' ticker on a running visual? Do y hear us even w? y (censor board) are deaf. y do whatever y want to do. We are only nation in this world that has ' smoking' on a running visual. How more ridiculous can it be?"

" kind of things you can do in a series and re's censorship. That Animal Welfare Board, my God, it's a pain in neck, if I can't say a**. And kind of things y impose on you. Films are such a soft target. If anything is happening to someone, (target) film. As if films are responsible for every evil that exists in society," he ded.

He was speaking at NDFC's Film Bazaar Kwledge Series session "Storytellers First - Directors and Producers who Changed Game".

Bhardwaj said he would love to create a project for digital medium "as soon as possible". He ded that he is looking for material which could be presented in a web series format.

"It is such a creative freedom for a director. I love cinema... But se series offer really something unique... In films, at editing level, we have to let go of many nuances... small characters you don't concentrate on... Series gives you that liberty and freedom," he ded.

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session also h veteran filmmaker Ramesh Sippy and Abhishek Chaubey on panel.

Chaubey said people in power in country do t take cinema or arts, in general, seriously.

"y think 'hum naachne-gaane wale hain, bh***d hain (we are song and dance guys, we are 'bh***d'). That's how y look at work that we do. y do t look at cinema as cultural documents, as an exploration or a voice of our times... 

"I think this government is having a hard time driving ecomy and giving employment to people. y are t interested in changing cinema or changing culture or understanding culture of cinema," said director, whose "Udta Punjab" was embroiled in controversy as CBFC h ordered multiple cuts from film.

Sippy praised digital medium for emerging as a great platform for "storytelling".

"What web series is offering is to do what you want, at time you want. re is limitation - eir time or creativity. Even censor lines are far broer at moment. re should be censor. It is supposed to be film certification, it's t censorship. But film's still go through process," director said.

He, however, raised his concern on censorship exercise, saying it has become "more limiting" than it was in his heyday.

"It has gone through changes. Even films that are screened on big screen re's a lot more limiting today than it was when we started back n," Sippy said. 

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