Nihalani justifies the NoC demand saying filmmakers have used the actual footage of Modi and other leaders, which cannot be shown without their permission

Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 26, 2017)

Two filmmakers from Mumbai have been asked by the Censor Board chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani to get a no-objection certificate from none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get their documentary on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal released in India.

Khusboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla, the makers of Hindi-English documentary titled An Insignificant Man, have chronicled the anti-corruption protests of which Anna Hazare was the face, and which resulted in the birth of the Aam Aadmi Party, the NDA sweeping to power at the Centre, and Kejriwal becoming the Delhi Chief Minister with a thumping majority.

The documentary, produced by the Ship Of Theseus director Anand Gandhi, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, and has since been screened at 40 festivals across the world. Over the next few weeks, it will be screened in Sydney, New Zealand, and Washington.

Ranka and Shukla told Mumbai Mirror that the Censor Board asked them to delete all references to the BJP and the Congress from their documentary, and also submit NoCs from Modi, former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, and Kejriwal, among others. When they approached Pahlaj Nihalani, he “threw them out of his office” saying he didn’t owe them an explanation.

The filmmakers said they applied for certification in February. “At the end of the screening for the Censor Board’s examining committee, we were told the members didn’t want to speak to us or even hear us out. When we asked if they had any concerns, we were told that everything would be conveyed to us in a letter which arrived 10 days later,” Shukla said.

The letter informed that the film had been referred by the examining committee to the revising committee. When they approached Nihalani — who last year was quoted as saying that he was “proud to be a Modi chamcha” — he told them he was not obliged to give them an explanation and summoned security guards to make them leave his office.

A screening was then organised for the revising committee, which was attended by Nihalani. At the end of it, the filmmakers were told that the Censor Board wanted them to delete six references to the BJP and the Congress and get the NOCs.

“Is Mr Nihalani expecting the prime minister to do the censor chief’s job now? If any of the concerned parties, including Mr Modi, Mr Kejriwal or Ms Dixit have a problem, they can challenge us in court. Why is the Censor Board acting as a watchdog for politicians and as the gatekeeper for the establishment? Its job is to certify films, not guard politicians. At least let them cite the exact scenes or statements they have a problem with, and which would require NoCs from these politicians,” Ranka said.

She said this was a clear case of a filmmaker being denied the right to tell his/her story. “The footages we have used of politicians are of their public appearances, are already documented and broadcast by several TV channels and newspapers. If journalists do not require NoCs for revealing information that is already there in the public domain, why should different rules apply to filmmakers? It’s like asking a journalist covering the Coalgate scam to get a NoC from a political party,” she said.

The filmmaker said even Kejriwal, who allowed them to record him, was non-committal when they asked him about his views on the documentary. “All he said was, ‘it’s interesting’,” Ranka said.

Ranka and Shukla said they were surprised at the Censor Board’s statements that the documentary was “potentially damaging” to Kejriwal, and that it was passed without any cuts.

“The bigger problem is, there is no forum to address these questions with the Censor Board, which shows no accountability or clarity in its mission or purpose,” Shukla said, adding the documentary was made with money raised through a crowd-funding campaign hosted by the filmmakers on their own platform, which brought in $120,000, nearly 600% more than their initial target of $20,000.

“We are first-time filmmakers with no political background. We moved to Delhi to make this fly-on-the-wall film on our own which is so interesting to watch in the present context. We have 800 partners who want to know when the film is releasing in India,” Shukla said.

Nihalani has already stated that no film should be allowed to be screened in festivals abroad without a certificate from the Censor Board. When Mirror got in touch with him yesterday, he insisted the Censor Board had not asked for any cuts.

Regarding the NoCs, he said the makers had used “real footage”, including that of the Parliament proceedings, and also the real names of politicians from various parties.

“When Karan Johar used Raveena Tandon’s name in a film, he got NoC from her. Ditto the makers of Jolly LLB 2 for a reference to Salman Khan. In this case, as they have referred to Mr Modi, Mr Kejriwal, and Ms Sheila Dixit among others, they should get NoCs from them. They say they have permission to use the footage but we don’t know that for a fact. So the NoC is a reasonable demand,” Nihalani told Mirror.

When reminded that it would be an almost impossible task for the filmmakers to get NoCs from the prime minister himself, he said, “Even if someone uses a phrase such as ‘Modiji ka gaon’ in their film, we ask for the PM’s NoC. In this case they have used footage from his political speeches. We will only clear the documentary once we get the NoCs.”

Again referring to Jolly LLB 2, Nihalani said, “In Jolly LLB 2, they made a mention of Bata and the company dragged the studio to court. The Censor Board was also made a party to it. Anyone can file a case, we can’t spend our time in the courtroom instead of doing our job. So the NoC is a must,” he said.

The filmmakers have vowed to fight it out. “It’s sad that we have to go through all this in a mature democracy for a film which was made for India. To quote Henry Louis Gates, censorship is to art as lynching is to justice. We have been lynched but we will keep the battle going,” Ranka said.