It's ironic that the very film Industry that raised a hue and cry about irrational censorship , calling it an affront to their creativity , are the ones to couch their angst in political-ease, using conciliatory terms of reference with respect to the two hour long pow-wow with the MOS I & B, a sartorially elegant Col.Rajyavardhan Singh Rathod.
After making the assembled press cool their heels promising some interesting bytes, both the bigwigs representing the film industry as well as the MOS came out almost sounding as one, literally patting each other in the back and making appropriate noises as to how a new dawn was born w.r.t the relationship between the Ministry and the industry at large. Mukesh Bhatt, who represented the industry repeated his earlier prayer of a turnaround in relations and a new understanding between the Industry folks and the Ministry.But Karan Johar, Anushka Sharma, Deepika Padukone, Siddharth Roy Kapoor, Vidya Balan, Vishal Bharadwaj, Gulzar, Ramesh Sippy Sridhar Raghavan, Anuraag Kashyap, Kiran Rao , Anupama Chopra, Shabana Azmi, Rajkumar Hirani and the rest of the Industry representatives chose to skulk away before the press could get to them for their views.
Aamir Khan was persuaded to come to the forefront and speak-up on behalf of the industry but his words too seemed rehearsed and unauthentic. It was quite a performance out there where nothing really was gained but everyone came out smiling after some back and forth bartering that probably cost the film industry it's self-respect. In fact the MOS , I & B , even attempted to throw the ball in the filmmakers court by saying that the film makers must submit their films for censorship well in time if they want to release their films on a specified date. He thereafter elaborated that filmmakers had a three-step redressal process which could get their films certified eventually. He spoke about a single window clearance for shooting permissions and claimed that the industry representatives had presented him with their issues and he was willing to consider them at length.
When the restive press began to raise issue over Pahlaj Nihalani's absence at this particular meeting, Mr Bhatt opined that since discussions were on with the Minister there was no need for any specific meeting with the censor board.
While the film industry bigwigs were said to be clamouring for Pahlaj Nihalani's ouster from the Censor Board, the honorable Minister,Col Rathod reiterated that no single person could hijack the certification system given the protracted and 3 tier nature of the set0up. Ultimately nothing really was gained from the closed-door interaction other than a promise for more such meetings in the future.
At the end of it all there wasn't much of promise to go along!
After making the assembled press cool their heels promising some interesting bytes, both the bigwigs representing the film industry as well as the MOS came out almost sounding as one, literally patting each other in the back and making appropriate noises as to how a new dawn was born w.r.t the relationship between the Ministry and the industry at large. Mukesh Bhatt, who represented the industry repeated his earlier prayer of a turnaround in relations and a new understanding between the Industry folks and the Ministry.But Karan Johar, Anushka Sharma, Deepika Padukone, Siddharth Roy Kapoor, Vidya Balan, Vishal Bharadwaj, Gulzar, Ramesh Sippy Sridhar Raghavan, Anuraag Kashyap, Kiran Rao , Anupama Chopra, Shabana Azmi, Rajkumar Hirani and the rest of the Industry representatives chose to skulk away before the press could get to them for their views.
Aamir Khan was persuaded to come to the forefront and speak-up on behalf of the industry but his words too seemed rehearsed and unauthentic. It was quite a performance out there where nothing really was gained but everyone came out smiling after some back and forth bartering that probably cost the film industry it's self-respect. In fact the MOS , I & B , even attempted to throw the ball in the filmmakers court by saying that the film makers must submit their films for censorship well in time if they want to release their films on a specified date. He thereafter elaborated that filmmakers had a three-step redressal process which could get their films certified eventually. He spoke about a single window clearance for shooting permissions and claimed that the industry representatives had presented him with their issues and he was willing to consider them at length.
When the restive press began to raise issue over Pahlaj Nihalani's absence at this particular meeting, Mr Bhatt opined that since discussions were on with the Minister there was no need for any specific meeting with the censor board.
While the film industry bigwigs were said to be clamouring for Pahlaj Nihalani's ouster from the Censor Board, the honorable Minister,Col Rathod reiterated that no single person could hijack the certification system given the protracted and 3 tier nature of the set0up. Ultimately nothing really was gained from the closed-door interaction other than a promise for more such meetings in the future.
At the end of it all there wasn't much of promise to go along!
