[Reader-list] [CACDelhi] Gulabi Aina is refused a CensorCertificate

[Shohini Ghosh]

This was posted by Nitin Karani on the lGBT list. This was the film  
DFA screebed at Ramjas College. Shohini

Myopic Censor Board: Banned, Banned, Banned!  By Nitin Karani on Media

   Like Jesus Christ is said to have told Peter, 'Before the cock  
crow, thou shalt deny me thrice', the Indian Censor Board in Delhi  
has banned Sridhar Rangayan's film on drag queens thrice over.

While in April 2003 the censor board refused 'Gulabi Aaina' (The Pink  
Mirror) a certificate because it is "full of obscenity and  
vulgarity", recently in April 2006, the board has done a complete  
change of tack to keep the film in the closet! The revising committee  
and the second revising committee refused it a certificate because in  
their opinion "the film Gulabi Aaina deals with an extremely complex  
issue of alternate sexuality in a peripheral manner". Further, the  
board's order states, "The problems and isolation faced by  
transvestites has not been dealt with in a holistic manner. Thus the  
film is refused certification as per relevant provisions of  
Cinematograph Act 1952".

No, there's no need to be happy or shocked that our esteemed State- 
appointed gatekeepers of art have discovered that most Indian  
filmmakers, when they are not invisibilizing homosexuality, are  
making fun of it. Theirs is neither a response to the 'Girlfriend'  
shock or to the 'My Brother Nikhil' balm. At worst it is an  
insidious, invidious game plan to keep a movie that makes no bones  
about same-sex desire and its natural ness with loads of humor hidden  
from the public gaze. At best, it is the sheer arrogance of an  
ignorant lot with no idea about the medium or the subject giving  
short shrift to the intelligence of both the audience and the filmmaker.

Sridhar is justifiably enraged and ready to join battle. He is  
planning to fight it out by taking the issue to the tribunal. (Also,  
see his comments below on the guidelines under which the committee  
reviewed the film and rejected it.) Fighting a battle for three years  
to get his film reviewed by the Board, Sridhar says he came across  
several skeletons in the censor board's cupboard: "From those who  
write censor scripts, but actually offer their services as touts to  
get the film passed by censors to filmmakers who add six scenes of  
violence so that the censors can cut three and pass it. I even found  
out from reliable sources that a recent, acclaimed gay film was  
passed by the Censor Board on payment of certain monies."

While Sridhar does praise the Board's chairperson Sharmila Tagore and  
the regional officer at Delhi who "at least gave the film a fair  
chance by putting it up for review", he is critical of the revising  
committee: "It was ridiculous sitting in front of six people and  
having to explain why I made the film and what I have tried to say in  
the film. If I could say it all verbally, then why did I have to use  
a visual medium like film!

"Peripheral and not holistic?! What do they expect me to say in 40  
minutes, which is the length of my film. Moreover, 'Gulabi Aaina' is  
not a documentary. I wanted it to be an entertainer, but layered with  
subtext. When you do a film about gays, everyone expects a preachy  
message or a downright maudlin tearjerker. I wanted the audience to  
laugh with the characters instead of at them. Isn't that good enough  
reason to make the film and have it reach viewers? It's a different  
way of sensitizing."

The Board really takes the cake and the pudding for implying that  
Sridhar's film is insensitive to the problems faced by what it calls  
"transvestites". In fact, that requires a vast stretch of imagination  
considering that Sridhar has been one of the forbearers of the gay  
rights movement in Bombay, being deeply involved with 'Bombay Dost'  
and The Humsafar Trust.

The feckless, hypocrites in the committee after all the 'tamasha' of  
interrogating Sridhar about the film didn't have the balls to pass  
the film. Says he, "They pretend they are broadminded, but when it  
comes to films with an alternate take, they cowards. Basically, I  
have realized they wanted my characters to cry over their fate. They  
didn't take too kindly to the fact that I showed gays and drag queens  
happy with their lives and being unapologetic. They wanted a daily  
soap with buckets of tears!" If Ekta Kapoor was looking for  
'chamchas', she would have found them there.

   Meanwhile, Sridhar is looking for your support, especially if you  
are from the film fraternity and/or the gay community: "My fight is  
about freedom of expression as a filmmaker, and I damn well know how  
to use it sensitively and sensibly."

Thankfully, Sridhar's latest film 'Yours Emotionally!' has been  
produced by a UK based production house so no going through the sicko  
censors this time!


Crafty Censors

Instead of protecting the citizens, more often the State uses the law  
to terrorize them and curb their rights. Our censorship guidelines  
have also been similarly twisted to restrict free speech and  
discussion of homosexuality.

While an in-depth look at the guidelines is needed, Sridhar gave his  
responses to some of the guidelines under which the committee  
reviewed 'Gulabi Aaina' and rejected it:

- The medium of film remains responsible and sensitive to the values  
and standards of society.
"Nowhere is it mentioned what are these great values and standards of  
the society that they talk about. It is all a thick cloud in the air  
that the moral policemen comfortably hide under."

- Artistic expression and creative freedom are not unduly curbed.
"But that's exactly what they are doing by banning my film. It's  
utterly ridiculous!"

- Certification is responsive to social change.
"If they keep refusing certificate to films that are away from the  
mainstream and attempt to discuss alternate issues, how do they  
expect any social change to happen? All they want is to maintain a  
status quo so that none of them will be blamed for taking an issue  
forward. It's the who-wants-to-bell-the-cat syndrome."

- The medium of film provides clean and healthy entertainment.
"Just look at all the masala films and skin flicks that get the  
Censor's nod. Calling it clean and healthy entertainment is a big  
joke. Take a reality check folks!"

- As far as possible, the film is of aesthetic value and  
cinematically of good standard.
"My film has been screened at 57 international film festivals and won  
Jury Awards for Best Film of the Festival in New York and France.  
Most of the reviews talk about the sensitive handling of the subject  
and it has been rated as 'fabulous', 'compelling', 'unique' and even  
'an excellent example of Indian cinema' by a Spanish critic. An art  
historian at Ohio State University compared it to Shyam Benegal's  
'Mandi', saying it bridged the gap between 'Fire' and 'Bombay Boys'  
by "adding that breath of reality". How much more aesthetic and  
cinematic value can I pump into the film to please the censors? Maybe  
I should include 5 grisly murders, 3 item numbers and a bevy of half- 
naked women!"

   posted by Nitin Karani @ 5:32 AM



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