Producer Guneet Monga Protests The Ban On Haraamkhor, Nawaz Stays Mum
Haraamkhor directed by Shlok Sharma shows a relationship between a teacher played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui and his student(Shwetha Tripathy, so brilliant in Masaan).
It has been banned by the CBFC.While the film’s leading man Nawazuddin Siddiqui has chosen to stay mum over all controversies(including Chitrangada and her director Kushan Nandy’s conflict in Babumoshai Bandookbaaz and now Haraamkhor) the Haraamkhor producer Guneet Monga is ready for a long battle.
The censor board objects to what it sees as an objectionable travesity of the sacred guru-shishyarelationship.According to the CBFC the film portrays our education system in a bad light.
Producer Guneet Monga disagrees, “Firstly it’s not a film about the education system. It’s a film about an individual who is a teacher in a village school. And he is not the ideal teacher. It’s a story that reflects our times and is fiction with no emphasis on any real place or time. I am baffled how it can be seen to reflect on our education system.”
Guneet has now taken the film to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal. “The theme they say is objectionable. In our society they say teachers can’t be shown is a different light.We won the best film (silver) for MAMI last year and the film has been appreciated around the world and in India . At MAMI while awarding the film they said, ‘HARAAMKHOR is the first feature that demonstrates sophisticated handling of tone and character perspectives, skilfully combining drama and light humour to tackle important social themes. It signals a new director to watch. And is illuminated by wonderful performances by it ensemble cast.’ We’re very proud ofHaraamkhor and will fight to get it released.”
