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Thursday, Jul 15, 2004

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National

Censor must clear music videos: Anupam Kher

By Our Staff Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 14. ``Look, the Censor Board Chairman is sleeping like a log while all sorts of things are being shown on television,'' Anupam Kher, chairperson of the Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC), said on his flight from Mumbai to Delhi yesterday.

``I have received brickbats and bouquets together during my two decades of acting career. Of the 50 memorable remarks, 45 were bad and most of these were received in the past six months in my capacity as the chairperson of the CBFC,'' Mr. Kher told a gathering at a consultation on ``Women, Media and the Laws'' organised by the CBFC and the National Commission for Women with stress on the obscene portrayal of women in the media.

``The remark I heard on board my flight to Delhi last night made me realise that the CBFC Chairman was not the best position to be in and little wonder that it took me about a week to give my consent when the offer was made to me,'' he said. It is a controversial post and one comes under attack quite often but then Mr. Kher wanted to repay to society what it had given him.

Admitting that portrayal of women in films and television should not be what it is now even in the most liberal terms, Mr. Kher said that music albums should also be made to get a clearance from the Censor Board before these were aired on television. ``Technically, the music albums are also supposed to take a certificate from the Censor Board but since the channels are aired from outside India, they exploiting the loophole. I would suggest that clearance from the Censor Board should be made mandatory such as in the case of films under the Cinematograph Act,'' he said.

As of now, the Government can take action under the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act against airing obscenity. ``When a person goes to watch a movie, he knows what he expects to see and has a choice to walk out of the hall if he does not like the show but in the case of television serials and songs, it is imposed on the people — even those who do not want to watch obscenity.'' Some music videos were `frightening'. As there was no provision of parental locking of TVs in the Indian homes, Mr. Kher suggested ``self-censorship'' rather than amendments to the Cinematograph Act. This was the best way out of this problem but that could happen only when the literacy rate went up. The Union Information and Broadcasting Minister, Jaipal Reddy, said women were still being used as objects of commercial exploitation and their obscene portrayal was one of its manifestations.

Describing himself as `liberal', Mr. Reddy said it was ultimately for society to set standards of obscenity and morals and if the Government was given the task, it would intrude upon the privacy of the people. ``We have the laws but do not know how to become gender-sensitive. Yes, we certainly need to ensure that obscenity is not imposed upon those who do not bargain for it,'' he said while stressing the need for developing `aesthetic sense' among the people. Welcoming the participants, the chairperson of the NCW, Poornima Advani, expressed concern over indecent portrayal of women in films, televisions, albums and even newspapers.

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