Censorship in India

There is an article today in the New York Times called
"In India, Showing Sectarian Pain to Eyes That Are Closed" By Somini Sengupta. The article talks about a new film by Indian director Rahul Dholakia called"Parzania". The film deals with the disappearance of a child during the Gujarat riots of 2002, when violence escalated after a train fire caused the death of 59 Hindus and was blamed on Muslim extremists. The retaliatory riots resulted in the deaths of over 1,1000 Muslims. The article hits on a topical point of film and free speech in this age of terrorism, and on the barriers that exist for political films that explore the Hindu-Muslim conflict in India. In a country weary of resurrecting the simmering tensions between these two factions, problems of distribution have been compounded by self censorship by theatre owners.

Added to this issue is an already rigid mandate of film certification, based on the Indian Supreme Court ruling, which states the position of film's influence on Indian society. This ruling allows for a broad control of film content by the CBFC branch of government:

"Film censorship becomes necessary because a film motivates thought and action and assures a high degree of attention and retention as compared to the printed word. The combination of act and speech, sight and sound in semi darkness of the theatre with elimination of all distracting ideas will have a strong impact on the minds of the viewers and can affect emotions. Therefore, it has as much potential for evil as it has for good and has an equal potential to instill or cultivate violent or good behaviour. It cannot be equated with other modes of communication. Censorship by prior restraint is, therefore, not only desirable but also necessary." (Supreme Court of India, http://www.cbfcindia.tn.nic.in/backgroundpage1.htm)

Certification is thus often used to force filmmakers to alter their narratives - not just for sexually explicit or violent content, but for political content as well. For a detailed set of rules, click here.

And since the Hindus in India have been living side by side with a sizable Muslim population for decades, and the tensions between the two groups have vacillated from extremes of terrorist attacks to the brink of nuclear war, India offer us a unique empirical perspective on conflict between Islam and the West. And with the recent train bombing in India that killed another 68 people Monday, (click here for developing news on that story), the response by both the Indian and Pakistan Governments to continue their peace efforts offers us hope. I think that only when terrorists no longer achieve the results of chaos and disruption that they desire will the attacks stop.

For more information about the Hindu-Muslim conflict and India's political past, I'd like to suggest a great book called "Temptations of the West: How to be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet and Beyond" by Pankaj Mishra.