Pupa Stuck With Censor Board

RBN Web Desk: Indian films have come a long way from being routine song and dance extravaganzas to showing more socially relevant content. But it seems the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)—the censor board that is—has failed to keep pace with the changing times. It’s still governed by an archaic law that has been less than kind to most filmmakers.

The latest to invite the censor board’s wrath is independent filmmaker Indrasish Acharya’s film Pupa. It was screened in the Indian language film section in the recently concluded Kolkata International Film Festival.

The film tells the story of Subhro who comes to Kolkata from the US, within a year of joining work, as his mother dies. He is ready to return to his workplace when his father suffers a cerebral attack. Subhro’s uncle tells him to shrug off the emotional baggage and head back to the US. As Subhro hesitates, his fiancé who is pursuing her PhD in that country, goes back.

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Pupa has Rahul Banerjee, Sudipta Chakraborty, Pradip Mukherjee, and actor-director Kamaleshwar Mukherjee in major roles. Rahul plays Subhro in the film.

On why the censor board has denied clearance to Pupa, Indrasish said, there’s a scene in the film where a person is murdered with an intramuscular injection. The censor board has asked to delete the entire scene. But the scene, he said, is an integral part of the film and will suffer in continuity.

Sans the censor board certificate, the director was unable to send Pupa for the National Film Awards.

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Indrasish has rejected the CBFC proposal. The censor board took no initiative to send the film to the appellate. There is no regional officer at the CBFC Kolkata office. The vacancy will be filled on 12 January after which he can move the appellate, Indrasish said, adding that it will be too close to the 19 January release date.

Indrasish had earlier directed Bilu Rakkhosh which won critical acclaim.