Nihalani Gets Slammed For Granting ‘A’ To La La Land

Damien Chazelle’s La La Land is not only one of the most acclaimed  films of 2016, it has just walked away with  7 Golden Globe awards leaving us wondering why the film has been given an ‘Adults Only’ censor certificate in India.

Once again the chairperson of the censor board Pahlaj Nihalani is in the eye of storm. However this time he he is ready with all his facts and figures.

Explains Nihalani, “We were ready to grant La La Land a ‘UA’ certificate, but with a few verbals cuts where the ‘f’ word and  other  expletives were used, and a shot of the middlefinger being shown. However the film’s producers Viacom 18 begged off, explaining that they could not afford to make the cuts required, as the budget allocated for his film was small. So we had no choice but to grant the film an ‘A’ certificate.”

Here it would be pertinent to say that the recent Hindi film Befikre not only had multiple kisses  but also dialogues which  referred to the heroine as a ‘slut’ and a ‘bitch’. It was granted a ‘UA’ certificate.

Double standards?

Says  critic Raja Sen, “I think it’s tragic that our censors evidently think great cinema is too masterful for children to watch. There is nothing remotely inappropriate about the glorious La La Land — which is more than can be said about the CBFC.”