Time to get 'children' out of censor board: Anurag Kashyap

The filmmaker who co-produced 'Udta Punjab', a movie on Punjab's drug menace, fought a battle against the censors for 89 cuts in the film

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap says it's time to get "children" out of India's censor board.

"Just heard... Another film, Neeraj Pandey's 'Saat Uchakkey', refused certificate. Can we please just go straight to the Tribunal to save time," Kashyap tweeted on Monday night.

"Maybe it's time to get the children out of CBFC and bar them from examining adult films 'Saat Uchakkey', 'Haraamkhor'," he added.

Kashyap, who co-produced "Udta Punjab", a movie on Punjab's drug menace, fought a battle against the censors who ordered as many as 89 cuts in the movie. Its Revising Committee scaled down the cuts to 13.

The movie could only release once the makers moved the Bombay High Court, which overruled the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)-recommended cuts and cleared it for release with just one cut and three disclaimers.

After "Udta Punjab", another of Kashyap's co-production, "Haraamkhor", faced the CBFC's music. The censors said the movie can't be released for its theme of a teacher's love story with his student. Now "Saat Uchakkey" is said to be in trouble.

Kashyap, who had called CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani an "oligarch" earlier, questioned: "What's the point of taking a film seeking an adult certificate to the CBFC?"