'The assault on students at Jamia Millia by Delhi police prompted filmmaker Anurag Kashyap to return on Twitter and expressed his anger on the recent developments. Reacting to police lathicharge on the Jamia students, Kashyap called the Modi government “fascist” and said, “he can’t stay silent any longer”... Other voices from the film industry also condemned the police action inside the Jamia University. Actor Taapsee Pannu said the videos of police action inside the campus were heartbreaking. “Wonder if this is a start or the end.
'In the upcoming Christian Bale-Matt Damon-starrer, Ford v Ferrari, the CBFC has asked the makers to blur out pictures of alcohol bottles and glasses containing alcohol from the frame. In images seen by HuffPost India, scenes that have alcohol bottles, both in the background and foreground, have been hastily pixelated. For instance, when a character is holding what appears to be a wine glass, the viewer only sees him holding an object, with the glass missing, effectively dampening the viewing experience.
'The release of a biopic drama on Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been brought forward by a week, to April 5, raising many eyebrows. The film will now premiere just before the start of voting for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The blunt and unimaginatively titled PM Narendra Modi is a fawning rendition of Modi’s life, and could have an impact on voters or even be seen as campaign material. Yet a number of former election commissioners told The Wire that the film’s release passes the litmus test of legality and does not violate the model code of conduct...'
'No apology, no resignation, said Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani today, as he fielded multiple attacks for having alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party funded Anurag Kashyap's film Udta Punjab. Mr Nihalani said he cannot substantiate his allegation but, "I won't apologise, I said what I heard." Top filmmakers today said they stand with Mr Kashyap, who says that the Censor Board has ordered the removal of all references to Punjab and elections, imposing 89 cuts in his film, which deals with drug abuse in Punjab.
;Forget cuss words, now even the images of Indian goddesses have failed to make the cut in front of the Indian censor board. In the soon-to-be-released film Angry Indian Goddesses, amongst the 17 cuts that the Indian censor board wanted filmmakers to make, was the blurring of the images of two Indian goddesses -- a picture of Lakshmi in the credits, and later in the movie, a picture of Kali. Movie producer Gaurav Dhingra said that he had failed to make the cut in front of the revising committee.
A group of filmmakers and scholars have written a letter written to Arun Jaitley, Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Rathore, minister of state for I & B and C. Senthil Rajan, Director of Film Festivals condemning the manner in which students of the Film and Television Institute of India have been treated at the International Film Festival of India currently going on in Goa. They have pointed out that ex-students have been arrested for protesting and one student was even put in preventive detention. The letter reads:
Statement issued by filmmakers from India regarding the Nepal blockade. Issued at the Film South Asia, Kathmandu / 21 November 2015
As filmmakers from India who have gathered to share our work at the Film South Asia in Kathmandu this week, we would like to place on record our solidarity with the people of Nepal who are presently reeling from a grave humanitarian crisis, arising from what is tantamount to an economic blockade.
'Ultimately the roaring voice of the FTII students reached the IFFI (International Film Festival of India) inaugural held at Panaji, Goa. Just when the inaugural had formally ended, chief guest had spoken and the administration was on the cusp of heaving a sigh of relief for a ‘trouble free beginning’ and was contemplating to ‘pat its own back’ for managing to save its ‘image’ the precints of the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium reverberated with slogans in favour of the historic FTII struggle.
'Pan Nalin’s internationally-acclaimed film Angry Indian Goddesses on female bonding and combating patriarchal tyranny, has encountered an expected snag. The Censor Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) has objected strongly to what they see as profane references to Hindu goddesses. Says a source, “Major portions of the film have been hacked off by the Examining Committee.
'Please meet the cleaned up, chaste, well behaved James Bond - trending in India as #SanskariJamesBond - an ironic hashtag prompted by a censor board decision to "cut short" Daniel Craig's kissing scenes in the movie Spectre, which releases in India on Thursday. That's right. James Bond in his current avatar, simply kisses too much for the tastes of the Indian censor board, and so they have been reduced in length.
