Anurag Kashyap to lock horns with Censor Board today

A peeved Anurag Kashyap will be filing a petition in the Bombay High Court today challenging the directive of the Censor Board on smoking in Hindi films. It is since the last six months that the director was having a stand-off with the Board as he refused to take the Censor certificate for his upcoming film Ugly. The film that was supposed to release this year has been pushed back due to the filmmaker’s unwillingness to carry the ‘Cigarette smoking is injurious to health’ disclaimer in the scenes that depict characters smoking. The petition to be filed by Anurag Kashyap, Phantom Films Private Limited and DAR Media Private Limited is said to be a follow up of a letter by the CBFC refusing to grant certification for the film in question. The petition reads: Such unreasonable conditions clearly fetter the rights of filmmakers to free speech and expression enshrined by the Constitution of India. Said Kashyap, “As a pre-condition for certification of my film Ugly, the CBFC has directed me to insert a disclaimer on the shots where a cigarette is shown and has refused to certify my film if I don’t include the same.” “I feel my film is my property and is not an advertisement hoarding for the health ministry. I make films borrowed from what’s happening in society and I take my films very seriously unlike the various government agencies which still adhere by the 80-year-old conservative definition of cinema as a variety entertainment,” he added. Why is the Censor Board so concerned about the consumption of tobacco or smoking of cigarettes? All this is the responsibility of the health ministry that should see to it that the tobacco production is stopped and its consumption is banned in the country by shutting shops that sell cigarettes and other tobacco-related stuff.