Looks like it is time for Chennai to shed the tag of being the centre of south Indian cinema. For, it is becoming a place which catches up on new films much later than the rest of the country, thanks to political outfits and fringe groups which have managed to succeed in blocking the release of films, simply because it “offended” their sentiments. Shoojit Sircar’s Madras Café, which was certified by the Central Board of Film Certification, failed to release in Tamil Nadu on Friday despite releasing in all other parts of the country. It was only recently that we had to see a Tamil film after the rest of the country when the release of Thalaivaa was stalled in the state. And, earlier, Kamal Haasan’s Vishwaroopam faced a similar situation.
When contacted, the director of Madras Café, Shoojit Sircar blamed a “technical glitch” for the movie not releasing in Tamil Nadu. “We couldn’t release it earlier because of certain technical issues, but we are sorting it out now. My distributors and producers are planning to release the film soon,” he said. However, when prodded on the protests and calls for ban on the film by Tamil groups in the state, he said, “After the court cases and everything, we still went for the censor. And they’ve cleared it with no cuts. So, what else can I say?”
Interestingly, the party that is spearheading the protests and calling for a ban on the film, the Naam Tamilar Katchi, is headed by a filmmaker — Seeman. The makers had screened the film to members of Tamil activist groups but the protesters later said that it showed LTTE cadres as terrorists. “The film tries to portray late Prabhakaran, LTTE chief, as a terrorist. We don’t appreciate it and request distributors to not screen the film in the state,” Seeman had said.
V Packirisamy, regional officer, CBFC, revealed that the Chennai office of the censor board was not involved in clearing the dubbed version of the film. “The basic version is Hindi and so, it was censored in Mumbai. We have a rule that says that a dubbed film should be submitted at the centre which passed the original. So, the makers of the film had got the Tamil dubbed version through to the censor in Mumbai on Thursday,” he explained. Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners Federation has left the decision of screening the film to the individual theatres.
However, what is quite evident from all these instances is that film lovers in the state will, from now on, have to live with the possibility of watching films in mutilated and manipulated forms, with cuts and mutes, that take away the creative voice of the filmmakers.
When contacted, the director of Madras Café, Shoojit Sircar blamed a “technical glitch” for the movie not releasing in Tamil Nadu. “We couldn’t release it earlier because of certain technical issues, but we are sorting it out now. My distributors and producers are planning to release the film soon,” he said. However, when prodded on the protests and calls for ban on the film by Tamil groups in the state, he said, “After the court cases and everything, we still went for the censor. And they’ve cleared it with no cuts. So, what else can I say?”
Interestingly, the party that is spearheading the protests and calling for a ban on the film, the Naam Tamilar Katchi, is headed by a filmmaker — Seeman. The makers had screened the film to members of Tamil activist groups but the protesters later said that it showed LTTE cadres as terrorists. “The film tries to portray late Prabhakaran, LTTE chief, as a terrorist. We don’t appreciate it and request distributors to not screen the film in the state,” Seeman had said.
V Packirisamy, regional officer, CBFC, revealed that the Chennai office of the censor board was not involved in clearing the dubbed version of the film. “The basic version is Hindi and so, it was censored in Mumbai. We have a rule that says that a dubbed film should be submitted at the centre which passed the original. So, the makers of the film had got the Tamil dubbed version through to the censor in Mumbai on Thursday,” he explained. Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners Federation has left the decision of screening the film to the individual theatres.
However, what is quite evident from all these instances is that film lovers in the state will, from now on, have to live with the possibility of watching films in mutilated and manipulated forms, with cuts and mutes, that take away the creative voice of the filmmakers.
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