NEW DELHI: 'The Dirty Picture' has finally been given a clean chit for telecast after nearly 100 cuts. The controversial national award winning film that had been banned from being screened on TV before 11 pm has now got the nod for general viewing.
Sources said the producers of the Vidya Balan starrer approached the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) volunteering an additional 40 cuts. Certain words have been muted while 3-4 minutes of the film have been chopped off. The film had got 59 cuts in April but had been given a U/A certificate with a rider that it be screened only post-11 pm. The rider has now been withdrawn and a universal certificate given to the film........
"The Board allowed them to make those deletions and made the endorsement to that effect on the film's certificate. The film can now be shown during general viewing hours on television," an official said.
Sources said TV channel Sony, which had run promos of the film's telecast on prime time in April before being stopped by the I&B ministry, had asked the producers to go for more cuts to ensure that the movie could be telecast during prime time.
Officials said under Rule 33 of the Cinematographic Act, filmmakers can re-submit their films for certification after making additions or deletions to the films.
In normal circumstances, changes which amount to an addition or deletion of up to 5 to 7 minutes are allowed and the Board certifies the new version of the movie. The I&B ministry had to step in to stop screening of 'The Dirty Picture' on prime time TV after an April 19 order of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court had asked the ministry to ensure that the telecast of the movie did not violate guidelines.
The I&B ministry had then turned to CBFC for advice which had said the U/A certificate given to the film after several cuts meant that parental guidance was a must. CBFC had also asked the ministry to tell all channels, which are "planning to telecast U/A rated movies in near future", to do so only after 11 pm.
"After 'The Dirty Picture' episode, the Censor board has, while rating movies U/A, even set a condition on their certificates that the movie would not be screened before 11 pm," the official said.
The senior official said the Censor Board had in the past consistently felt that the spirit of its certification had to be maintained and there should be a mechanism in which in U/A rated films viewers should be apprised of the need for parental guidance.
Sources said the producers of the Vidya Balan starrer approached the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) volunteering an additional 40 cuts. Certain words have been muted while 3-4 minutes of the film have been chopped off. The film had got 59 cuts in April but had been given a U/A certificate with a rider that it be screened only post-11 pm. The rider has now been withdrawn and a universal certificate given to the film........
"The Board allowed them to make those deletions and made the endorsement to that effect on the film's certificate. The film can now be shown during general viewing hours on television," an official said.
Sources said TV channel Sony, which had run promos of the film's telecast on prime time in April before being stopped by the I&B ministry, had asked the producers to go for more cuts to ensure that the movie could be telecast during prime time.
Officials said under Rule 33 of the Cinematographic Act, filmmakers can re-submit their films for certification after making additions or deletions to the films.
In normal circumstances, changes which amount to an addition or deletion of up to 5 to 7 minutes are allowed and the Board certifies the new version of the movie. The I&B ministry had to step in to stop screening of 'The Dirty Picture' on prime time TV after an April 19 order of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court had asked the ministry to ensure that the telecast of the movie did not violate guidelines.
The I&B ministry had then turned to CBFC for advice which had said the U/A certificate given to the film after several cuts meant that parental guidance was a must. CBFC had also asked the ministry to tell all channels, which are "planning to telecast U/A rated movies in near future", to do so only after 11 pm.
"After 'The Dirty Picture' episode, the Censor board has, while rating movies U/A, even set a condition on their certificates that the movie would not be screened before 11 pm," the official said.
The senior official said the Censor Board had in the past consistently felt that the spirit of its certification had to be maintained and there should be a mechanism in which in U/A rated films viewers should be apprised of the need for parental guidance.
