Purab Kohli: The Censor Board is treating us like five-year-olds

Actor Purab Kohli welcomes actor Amol Palekar’s plea in the Supreme Court which challenges the pre-censorship of films by Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). The Noor actor hopes that it will bring in a positive change in the film industry. “It (the fight against archaic censorship rules) has been going on for a long time now. People should now realise that films are not just made for entertainment purposes,” says the 38-year-old.

In his petition, Palekar said that the CBFC doesn’t have any member with a legal background, which leads the board to violate filmmakers’ right to speech and expression. He also challenged provisions of the Cinematography Act, calling the “pre-censorship” of films “irrelevant” in the current times.

Kohli agrees, and says that Censor Board is very “archaic” in its approach. “Apart from providing entertainment, films also help in opening up minds of individuals. CBFC’s rules take away that freedom from us. It [the board] treats like a bunch of five-year-olds, and thinks it can tell us what to watch or not watch,” he says.

The Rock On actor says that filmmaker Shyam Benegal’s rating system is the way forward. “Obviously no one is saying that there should not be any check or anything like that. But the model needs to change, and the rating system is the way to do that. Classify the film based on the content correctly and give them PG ratings. Then go and do the crackdown on theatres and see if they are following the ratings or not,” adds Kohli.

The actor thinks that people in the industry have gotten used to the way the Censor Board functions. “It has been going on for so long that people have gotten used to it. It is unfortunate. But people are now talking about and voicing their concerns. So things might change. I might have had a stronger opinion on it if I were a filmmaker, and if my film was getting slated by the Board. It’s a hard one to crack honestly,” he says.