Censor Board row: an entirely new board within few days - Rathore

Interview with MoS I &B, Rajyavardhan Rathore

Several members of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) have sent a joint resignation letter to you. Have you accepted the resignations?

We have not received any letter from anyone. But it doesn't really matter because we are in the process of changing the board anyway.

By when do you think the new board will be in place?

It's just a matter of days... we will put in place an entirely new board within the next few days.

The former chairperson Ms. Samson and other board members have accused the I&B Ministry of interference, coercion and corruption.

Whatever they are saying about the role of the Ministry, why did it not make them resign earlier? Why did they do it just when they knew they were on their way out.

It has been alleged the Ministry intervened to get the film "MSG - Messenger of God" cleared despite the CBFC's refusal to pass it.

Look, the Ministry does not intervene in these matters. Before this, there were two films which raised a lot of controversy. There were expectations the government would intervene but did we? We did not even though there were a lot of voices against those films. Now (in this case) she finds it convenient to say the government has intervened…just because her judgment has been changed.

So you are saying the Ministry played no role in the film MSG being cleared by the FCAT?

Yes. Thats why we have the CBFC . There are so many other important issues for the Ministry to handle...like revamping Doordarshan...bringing the north-eastern region to the forefront...new FM channels...we dont intervene in these (film certification) matters at all.

Ms. Samson has alleged that the Ministry has been preventing the Board from meeting for the past nine months.

Well if that is the case, why does not she produce a letter, email or even a SMS which shows they had been asking for something and we have been ignoring it.

But has there been a precedent like this, a film that serves as a personal propaganda vehicle of a particular person/godman being released in India?

Yes, so there are certain aspects of the film that have been flagged. We understand...If a person claims in a film he is Superman and he flies, he can't claim to have those powers in real life. I’m not aware what all the FCAT has flagged…but I believe they have asked for some cuts.