Anjum Rizvi, the producer of Raveena Tandon starring Maatr, has quashed rumours that the CBFC has banned the film. Rizvi said that the board is viewing the film and will announce the results soon. Indian Express quotes Rizvi saying, “I don’t know where these news have come from. Maatr will be viewed by the CBFC on Monday, the film is hence not banned.”
Rumours that Maatr, billed as Raveena Tandon’s comeback film, will be banned for graphic scenes of sexual violence and rape, have been in circulation for sometime now. The same IE story quotes a source close to Rizvi who said, “Yes, the CBFC has banned the film and they walked out of the screening on Saturday evening. However, they are going to reconsider the movie on Monday. The CBFC has said that the film has very graphic content which was way different than the original screenplay submitted to them. We were told that the CBFC found the film’s content to be violating many guidelines for certification. So even if the film is to get an ‘A’ certificate, there will be many cuts that we are expected to make.”
Meanwhile, the CBFC has said that they have not yet banned the film. Anurag Shrivastava of the board said, “The screening of the movie Maatr for CBFC was done on Saturday evening and at the moment there is no screening of Maatr again. Ban on the movie is false, as the examination committee is still in process and the result will be conveyed in a day or two.”
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These rumours have prompted Raveena to lash out at the CBFC. “The Censor Board is bound by archaic laws which need to change according to the current times. Maatr is a story that needs to be told. We’ve had enough of sugarcoating of harsh realities. If this continues we will remain indifferent to brutality, and rape will remain a taboo,” she said, as per a report in DNA.
Maatr is a revenge thriller written by Michael Pellico and directed by Ashtar Sayed. It tells the story of mother’s revenge after her daughter’s gruesome murder.