Producers Dispatch Films Overseas Without Proper Censor Certificates!
CBFC To Clamp Down With Criminal Charges
It has come to light that producers , in a hurry to undertake the process of film distribution days before release , have been sending off their films without proper censor certification.
Livid and armed with a long list of culpable producers, CBFC chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani says the CBFC is all set to take the strongest criminal action against the practitioners of this offence.
Says Nihalani, “The practice is not new. Producers have been sending off their films overseas without proper censor certification for many years now. Before I came in deadlines could be beaten by ‘purchasing’ censor certificates for as little as 10,000 rupees. I put an end to this unsavoury practice. So producers found a new devious method of beating the deadline. They dispatch their films to the overseas market without certificates , or with wrong certificates.”
“Wrong certificate” is explained as… inserting an old film’s censor certificate with a new release.
“Nobody checks the details on the certificate , so producers get away with this duplicity. But we have a list of filmmakers who have indulged in this criminal practice. And we tend to initiate the strongest legal action against producers who dispatch their films to overseas territories without a proper censor certificate,” says Nihalani.
He also admits that producers are in the habit of submitting incomplete films for certification. “They come without the full background score, or incomplete dubbing or a missing song. Let me inform them that this is against the rules. Films must be submitted only after it is complete. Nothing can be added once it is handed over to the censors.”
