Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 9, 2018)

National Award-winning filmmaker Ashvin Kumar’s feature film No Fathers in Kashmir will be screened for the Revising Committee of the Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) on Wednesday, October 10, in Mumbai.

Speaking to Mirror earlier (October 4, 2018), the director had pointed out that at the most it should take 32 days for a film’s first screening and 68 days to get a certificate. “In our case, we applied to the CBFC for certification on June 15 and it took 80 days for the Examining Committee to see it,” Ashvin had informed, adding that he was not given the opportunity to discuss or defend his film as no objections or comments were raised, he simply received a letter from the Regional Officer (RO) the following day saying that the Chairperson, Prasoon Joshi, had referred the film to the Revising Committee at an unspecified place and time. “It’s 109 days and counting and there has been no communication from the CBFC since.”

Tushar Karmarkar, RO, CBFC, Mumbai, refuted Ashvin’s claim, saying, “It was submitted only on July 15 and the application was incomplete. The corrected application was accepted only two days later.”

He added that after the EC screening on September 3, the film couldn’t be cleared. “We felt it needed another screening. Yes, some time has passed in this case, but it’s not been 100 days as he claims. Usually, we clear a film by 68 days at the most, but this film was referred to the RC and that took time,” he reasoned, adding, “We will have a second screening in a couple of days.”

Four days after Mirror’s report, Ashvin has been intimated of the RC screening.