As the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), under the self-confessed conservative Pahalaj Nihalani, played mother recently releasing a ‘curse list’ that cannot be used on screen anymore, Bollywood went ballistic. Twitter and Facebook saw some furious messages from eminent filmmakers, and the CBFC, in an effort to douse the fire, released a set of conflicting statements, which only seemed to infuriate them further. Quite understandable, really.
Down south though, it was cause for much hilarity …and some charming indifference.
Actor-director R Parthiban was a little amused at the furore the list seemed to have caused. This is not new, he chuckled; having been a part of a never-ending tug-of-war with the regional Censor Board over what can be classified as “obscene” and what cannot. He readily parted with an instance. In his debut effort – Pudhiya Paadhai – the word ‘anaadhai’ was termed ‘offensive’ by the CBFC.
To its credit though, the board helpfully came up with a more politically correct, textbook alternative.
‘Aadharavattravan’.
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“It wasn’t even a bad word,” Parthiban later laughed at the memory, “I played an orphan in the movie, and every time I had to refer to myself, I was asked to use the word ‘aadharavattravan’. It’s simply not realistic. When someone is looking to insult, they hurl abuses. They don’t calmly look for an inoffensive alternative!”
More seriously, the actor-director opined that “a balanced view” is the need of the hour. “What you or I consider obscene might not be the same for everyone,” he shrugged.
We reminded him that the list contains words like ‘fuck’ and some creative variations of it.
Then,
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“A filmmaker has every right to use swear words in his/her movies,” he declared vehemently, “if it is necessary to the way the story progresses. Not to excite the audience, but to pull in a certain section of the crowd.”
Anand Shankar, who debuted with the slick thriller Arima Nambi, agreed wholeheartedly with Parthiban. “My film had some curse words in it and was consequently certified U/A because of that. Which is something I’m okay with. Doing away with swear words in general and depriving a filmmaker of his right to use something is not cool.”
RS Prasanna though, wholeheartedly agreed with us. “CBFC has actually popularized these words by releasing the list!” he laughed. “Not banned them, really.”
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