Hope to get the censor certificate today, Maatr producer says nixing ban rumours

Bollywood fans were busy expressing outrage against the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) over the weekend for “rejecting” Raveena Tandon’s upcoming film - Maatr. Media reports claimed the board members first walked out of the screening of the movie and subsequently, when it was again screened for them on Saturday, they “rejected” it finding it “too violent”.

The film’s producer Anjum Rizvi, however, refuted the rumours and told Hindustan Times, “All these reports are false. The movie was not screened on Saturday or earlier. It is being screened for the board members today and we hope to get the final decision today itself.”

He also expressed hopes that the film will releases as scheduled, on April 21.

ANI had earlier quoted CBFC CEO Anurag Shrivastava denying the claims, “The screening of the movie Maatr for CBFC was done yesterday evening and at the moment there is no screening of Maatr again. The 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.”

Interestingly, it was not just the online janta who gave a knee-jerk reaction. Even the movie’s lead actor, Raveena, lapped up on the opportunity and said., “I can count films whose sense of humour was vulgar but there was no objection made. Now with Maatr, when we are showing the reality, objections are being raised and it is surprising.”

Maatr is directed by Ashtar Sayed and features Raveena as a single mother. It is due for April 21 release, but the actress said she wasn’t aware about the next move of its makers.

“Amol Palekar sir has approached the Supreme Court (over censorship) and even Shyam Benegal has submitted his report so we are hoping change will come,” she said.