Amartya Sen documentary goes online sans words like cow, Hindutva, Gujarat

CBFC refused green signal to it because of presence of these words, that also included 'Hindu India'

Filmmaker Suman Ghosh has uploaded a 141-second trailer online of the documentary on Nobel laureate Amartya Sen amid a censorship controversy over the use of words "cow", "Gujarat", "Hindu India" and "Hindutva". These four words are not in the trailer.

"Today the 14th of July we were supposed to release our film The Argumentative Indian. Of course, we were not allowed to. We had prepared a trailer for the release. Please share if you like it. The Tagore poem is recited by Victor Banerjee. And I am indebted to the countrywide support from the people and media," Ghosh said in a Facebook post on Friday.

The 101-second trailer was uploaded on July 6 and till July 15 it had grabbed over 6,000 views. It begins with Sen receiving the Nobel Prize in 1998, his time at Shantiniketan, Presidency College (now University) and Cambridge University.

It also features views of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the first American Nobel laureate in Economics Paul A Samuelson and the 1972 Nobel winner Kenneth Arrow, about Sen. In addition, Sen's opinions about the World Bank have also made it into the clip.

Asked on why the disputed words are not part of the trailer, Ghosh, also a noted economist, told IANS that the clip was made much in advance of the July 14 release date and is not linked to the controversy.

The film was refused a green signal by the Indian censor board.

The Central Board of Film Certification's (CBFC) move was prompted by documentary maker Suman Ghosh's refusal to bow to its diktat that the four words uttered by the Bharat Ratna awardee during an interview in the film "The Argumentative Indian" be muted.