Ritesh Sidhwani – Censor board guidelines need to be changed

Producer Ritesh Sidhwani says that the current guidelines of the censor board are outdated since cinema has evolved and hence needs changes.

Recently, veteran directors Shyam Benegal, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, and ad expert Piyush Pandey were appointed to a panel to handle the revamp of the board as well the Cinematography Act and Sidhwani said that even he was invited by these members of the committee from the producer’s guild association for a particular initiative recently.

“It’s basically a process of dialogue and interaction. I’m sure we’ll come with a solution. These kind of hurdles happen. There were rules which were in place, maybe they’re old and redundant and which needs to be changed because cinema is evolving. I think the problem is that the guidelines were written 25-30 years ago and the person sitting on the board is following these guidelines,” said Sidhwani at a screening of the film, “Wazir”.

Central Board of Film Certification head Pahlaj Nihalani, who is in the line of fire for his suggestions to filmmakers regarding cuts and beeps, had also cited these “guidelines’ while cutting the duration of the kissing scenes in James Bond’s “Spectre”.

Nihalani recently got slammed by “Jai Gangaajal” director Prakash Jha for suggesting cuts such as beeping the word “saala” which Jha felt would ruin the texture of the film.

Inputs by IANS