Wrong people occupying chairs at Censor Board: Anjan Dutta

Criticising the Censor Board for suggesting cuts to Bengali film Saheb Bibi Golaam and several other films, National Award-winning filmmaker, and actor Anjan Dutta on Thursday said wrong people were occupying posts in Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

"There are wrong people occupying chairs at Censor Board. People who don't know differences between a kiss and slap. People who are cinema illiterate," Anjan said.

The director (an actor in this film), whose films have faced censor hurdle in the past, was talking to PTI at the trailer launch of Saheb Bibi Golaam.

"Those who should have rubber stamps in hand are wielding scissors. We need to be less prudish," Anjan said.

The director of Saheb Bibi Golaam, Pratim D Gupta, had initially been asked by the regional Censor Board to edit the character of Bibi.

The Board was reluctant to give the film 'A' certificate. However, the film was sent to a revising committee which asked the director to edit a rape scene and finally the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) certified the movie with minor cuts.

Anjan, who plays the flamboyant character of Saheb in the film chronicling the journey of three characters — Saheb, Golaam (Ritwik Chakraborty) and Bibi (Swastika Mukherjee), said the film tackled headlong the issues like how women were being exploited in many Bengali urban households and is not pretentious unlike most Bengali films.

"We are fed up with the hackneyed tales of daughter-in-law, mother-in-law strifes and tales of divorce. We are getting an overdose of such relationship tales. Let's go divert a bit, Let's be radical. Let's go into the darker sides of our lives. No point in being evasive," he said.

The director says that mediocrity has become the trend in Bengali films and other spheres.

"Apart from a few promising ones, most filmmakers don't seem to be interested in film making any more here. They have turned to film-making as they have apparently nothing else to do."

Saheb Bibi Golaam will be released in end-August.