Sir,

On the subject of ‘sanskari James Bond’ controversy, I would like to share some thoughts that I picked up from a recent editorial.

The censor board has taken on the peculiar task of timing James Bond’s kisses. Citing its outmoded obscenity codes, the chief of the Central Board of Film Certification has ordered that the length of two kissing sequences in Spectre, the new Bond film, be shortened by half. The absurdity of the logic that has been cited to justify the cuts is one point. A more important point is that a censor board itself is incompatible with the idea of a modern and mature democracy. Consequently, Indian film-makers have often resorted to comical imagery to portray acts of intimacy.

The real dangerous problem is the existence of a body invested with disproportionate powers to decide what can be watched by adult citizens. This is also unfortunate because a handful of independent film-makers, who are keen on exploring the perceptible shifts in the meaning of morality in a changing India, are finally beginning to find an appreciative audience.

The censor board’s eagerness to repeatedly infringe upon artistic freedoms by cutting off this and that amounts to vandalizing a work of art. Successive elected governments have used the film censor board to disseminate their respective ideological positions. Partisan interference is an effective way to institute and then nurture diverse forms of paternalism that blur the lines between protection and control. The collateral damage – a nation full of infantile citizens – suits the authoritarian agenda perfectly.

Yours Faithfully

Sagarika Dubey

Patna

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