Mukesh Bhatt wants to take I & B Ministry head-on

Producer Mukesh Bhatt is an aggrieved man. The revising committee of the Censor Board (CBFC) while granting his film Jannat 2 a U/A certificate, has used a rider along with that it can be aired on TV only after 11 pm. Avers Bhatt, “This is ridiculous! Can you have a red signal for the autos and the other for a car? Why this discrimination? Both Agneepath and Jannat 2 are granted U/A certificates, the Karan Johar film is telecast in the prime time slot and mine relegated to the 11 pm, so called adult slot.” To a query as to how does he want to counter this move? Bhatt quips, “I am going to court. I have full faith in the judiciary. I have earlier won a case in which we (Mukesh and Mahesh Bhatt) were alleged to have lifted the script of Jannat 2 by scriptwriter Kapil Chopra this May.” Directed by Kunal Deshmukh, Jannat 2 follows the illegal arms trade in Delhi. This is the second Bollywood film to be relegated to the adult slot on TV in two months; the first being the Vidya Balan-starrer The Dirty Picture that was given a similar treatment this April (2012). The entire film industry is very upset about the I & B ministry’s decision. Several industry insiders feel that pushing U/A-rated films to the adult slot will hit revenue earnings. Is the film industry getting into a direct confrontation with the ministry? “Yes” replies Bhatt. “We, in the film industry across the country, are taking the ministry head on. We are determined to end this kind of dictatorship attitude of the I&B ministry,” he observes.