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Abolish censorship: Nihalani

By Our Staff Reporter

THRISSUR, AUG. 19. The cinematographer-director, Govind Nihalani, has called for the abolition of censorship.

Inaugurating the International Film Festival of Thrissur (IFFT -- 2004) here on Thursday, Mr. Nihalani said censorship was preventing Indian filmmakers from making people aware of serious social issues.

"Two films, one of which was by Anand Patwardhan, had faced the wrath of censors because these spoke about the Pokhran test and the Gujarat riots. The argument of the censors that such films trigger communal disharmony, and law and order problems, is feeble. I had faced a similar problem when I made `Tamas', and was given police protection for eight weeks,'' Mr. Nihalani said.

American model

He said that the American model of rating system could effectively replace censorship in India.

M. N. Vijayan, director of IFFT-2004, described cinema as a "social dream''. "It mirrors our aspirations, frustrations and nightmares.''

The Mayor, K. Radhakrishnan, presided. Among those present on the occasion were Therambil Ramakrishnan, MLA, the directors, P. N. Menon and Satyan Anthicaud, the Planning Board member, C. P. John, the director of the National Film Archives of India, Sasidharan, the former NFAI director, P. K. Nair, the veteran producer, Sobhana Parameswaran Nair, the film programmer, Aruna Vasudev, Gurupal Singh, director of the Puri festival, the critic, Amrit Gangar, and the British director, Ken Fero.

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