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Sense and censorship

Straining at gnats while swallowing camels whole

In a college in the southern part of our State, they used to show English films to their students. But when the hero and heroine neared each other with pouted lips, a professor would hold a piece of cardboard in front of the projector.

And while the students yelled in protest, the professor quietly watched the kiss on the cardboard. He removed his `censor board' after the loving pair moved away from each other to a becoming distance.

Thou Shalt Not

This "I-can-see-it-but-you-can't" attitude is sometimes carried too far by the censors even today. And what constituted objectionable material was not clear even to the censors. The British censors made themselves look silly when they issued this note: "This film is apparently meaningless. If there is any meaning, it is doubtless objectionable".

But some groups or other kept insisting on censorship. As early as 1897, an organization of `Upright Citizens' objected to a belly dance performed by a girl called Fatima in a short film.

In 1934, The Legion of Decency started cracking down on erring films. And ever since there has been a running battle between the censors and the film makers.

The British Board of Film Censors issued its Ten Commandments of "Thou shalt not... ." in the early 30's. Among the banned items were intoxication, vamping, vulgar noises, harsh screams and references to royalty. But such injunctions are taken as challenges by the innovative film makers. Cecil B.Demille managed to smuggle in an orgy into every Biblical epic he made.

The Indian censors were against kissing, while they allowed all kinds of vulgarity and lewdness. Film makers like Raj Kapoor cleverly introduced kissing in their films employing certain ruses. A kiss was sneaked even into an MGR film under the guise of sucking out snake venom.

The Dictator of Virtue

In Hollywood there was a continuing conflict between the film producers and the censors. Finally, Hollywood instituted a self-censor office headed by Will Hays who was promptly dubbed `The Dictator of Virtue'. He was paid $100,000 per annum. "We are paid to have dirty minds" he said, and quickly started demonstrating this fact. The nature of films changed dramatically. As a wag pointed out, "Good stories about bad girls gave place to bad stories about good girls".

The Hays office deliberated for four hours over a line of dialogue in the film, `Gone with the Wind': "Frankly My Dear, I don't give a damn". They suggested "darn" instead of "damn". The producer, David O.Selznick, had to fly across the country to New York and spend several hours persuading Hays to retain "damn". Many felt that Hays was straining at gnats while swallowing camels whole. "The inanities blessed by the Hays office are more genuinely corrupting than any pornography," said a critic.

Some claim that the audience is the best judge. But then there are many audiences that fill up a theatre only at the drop of a saree. One wonders how effective any censor can be, caught between such audiences and furtive film makers.

The script of a Hollywood film, `Zaza', called upon the heroine to scream at the villain: "Pig! Pig! Pig! Pig! Pig!". Back came a note from the censors: "Delete two pigs". The censors do seem ridiculous at times.

But after seeing some of the dances in modern Tamil films, where the hero jumps about drunk with his own importance, and the exaggerated image given to the hero in comparison to that of the heroine, one starts thinking that maybe we need the censors, even if they manage to just delete two pigs, preferably of the male chauvinist variety.

J. VASANTHAN

(e-mail: jvasanthan@sancharnet.in)

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