The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) issued a new set of advisories for filmmakers seeking certification for their films last month. While the new guidelines raised eyebrows, the board made it clear that announced titles and release dates will not be taken into consideration during the process. Amid this, Satluj director Honey Trehan has reacted to the new guidelines, calling the new advisory ‘cowardice and dictatorship’.
Honey Trehan calls out CBFC guidelines
After the news of the new CBFC advisory began doing the rounds, Honey re-posted a poster of his film Satluj shared by Variety India on his Instagram Stories. The poster had ‘New CBFC guidelines for filmmakers’ written on it. Sharing his take on the same, the filmmaker added, “New Guidelines shows and underlines the Cowardness and the Dictatorship in the country, not the Democratic approach towards the freedom of speech.”
Notably, this comes after the filmmaker’s film Satluj, starring Diljit Dosanjh, was stuck in the CBFC certification process for nearly three years. The makers and the board had a standoff with regard to the requested changes. The film, which was originally titled Ghallughara, was renamed Panjab ‘95. Eventually, amid a lack of certification, the film was silently dropped, uncut, on Zee5 under the name Satluj. However, it was later taken down within hours of its release.
CBFC’s new guidelines
Notably, CBFC guidelines for filmmakers were issued back in September, while the new advisory was released in October. The advisory reportedly states that filmmakers must submit the final version of their film for certification, complete with titles, graphics, and sound. It also stated that the announced promotional title and release dates will not be considered binding.
The board further stated that film titles would continue to remain subject to scrutiny and can be reviewed or modified by the examining or revising committee.
Notably, the latest advisory marks the first set of directives issued by the newly reconstituted 18-member CBFC, which was revamped a few months ago after nine years. The board is chaired by former Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati and includes actors Preity Zinta, Pankaj Tripathi, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Rupali Ganguly, Manoj Joshi, Pallavi Joshi, Suniel Shetty, filmmaker Priyadarshan, music composer Ricky Kej and producer Supriya Yarlagadda, among others.