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PROJECT REPORT 1999-2000

WE WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO THANK ALL THOSE WHO VERY PATIENTLY AND PAINSTAKINGLY MADE SINCERE EFFORTS TO MAKE THIS REPORT A GREAT SUCCESS .

WE ARE VERY GRATEFUL TO PROF.(MRS.) BERTHA FERNANDES ,OUR COMMUNICATION SKILLS TEACHER FOR IMPORTANT AND TIMELY HELP WITHOUT WHICH THIS REPORT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE.

WE WOULD ALSO LIKE TO SINCERELY THANK THE REGIONAL OFFICER OF THE FILM CERTIFICATION BOARD OF INDIA FOR HIS VALUABLE INFORMATION WHICH WAS VERY HELPFUL.WE ALSO THANK THE PRINCIPAL OF OUR COLLEGE ,MR.ROLLIN FERNANDES FOR HIS COOPERATION.

LAST BUT NOT THE LEAST WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL THOSE WHO HAVE HELPED US DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY IN MAKING THIS REPORT.

March 1991, "A girl appearing for her S.S.C examination burnt alive in the examhall by her jilted lover for refusing to accept his proposal."quoted a newspaper. The investigation lead to a suprising fact . The murder was committed in the same fashion as had been shown in a then recently released film. Incidents like these leave a doubt in our mind,Is the censor board in India really doing it's job well or does it require an update ? This report tries to find out the truth .

A. Acknowledgments i

b. Preface ii

c. Introduction 1.

d. Purpose ,Scope ,Limitations. 3.

e. Censorship in india. 4.

f. Need of censorship. 5.

g. How censor board works. 6.

h. Findings. 8.

1.criteria of censorship in India.

2.selection of censor board members.

3.public opinion about censor board .

4.Is censor board in India out dated?

5.What changes are required in censor board?

i. Conclusion and recommendations. 14.

j. Appendix. 16.

Once king Akbar asked his court what is the difference between truth and lie . Nobody could answer the question except Birbal , his witty minister . He said the difference between them is of width of four fingers . Nobody could make out what he meant . The king asked him to explain, Birbal said that what one hears might be or might not be lie, but what one had seen would be true . The distance between the ear and eyes was of width of four fingers.

From above one tale , one can understand the impact of a things happening.This means that seeing is more powerful than listening. Therefore progress of state of art , audio-visual techniques can impress every one , young to old depending on his capacity of understanding things and situation .

Therefore cinema and TV can mould the thinking or can sweep the emotion of the mass. This capacity of audio-visual media can be used for good or bad purpose. The basic purpose of censorship is to prevent the media causing evil or ill effects on the masses. The members of censor board ,therefore have a task to understand what can cause damages

to social morality and screen what should be prevented from viewing.

Censorship is not to suppress one's right to express his thoughts or action using audio-visual media but it is to prevent the spreading of unethical messages through the media.

PURPOSE

Censorship is a much talked about topic in this part of the world .The sole purpose of writing this report is to study the various criteria for film certification in India .This report is also to find out whether the present censor board is out dated and is in need of an update .

SCOPE

The group committee started working from 24^th January . It continued working upto 23^rd march 2000 collecting exhaustive information from books,

Internet and magazines on censorship . It had also conducted a personal interview with "THE REGIONAL OFFICER " of the film certification board of India (Mumbai) and gathered people's view point by means of questionnaires .

LIMITATIONS

The group has prepared the report on the basis

Of data available from the year Jan 1998 to March 2000 only .

Normally the movies are classified into two parts.One is art movies and the other is commercial movies . The art movies are primarily based on particular themes or on social causes and try to give an advice or suggestions for the development of the society . The commercial movies are nothing but money making ones. Sex and violence are embedded in the movie to attract the audience .

The film certification board is a statutory body of india. It has a committee whose members are selected from among well known acting community critics ,literary personnel and so on . The censor board tries to curtail the scenes and songs which may affect the audience in inculcating bad or wrong habits or attitudes shown in the movies .

In some foreign countries there is no censor board . The crime rate and pre-martial cases are at peak in such countries . In some countries the censorship is very poor like in USA where a guy in a school carries revolver and shoots at his friends as shown in movies . Being advanced weapons , and their use is observed in audiovisual means .

Therefore the need of censorship in movies is inevitable and should be applied in its true sense. Nowadays movies are available at home due to spread up of cable network . Most of the films are having horror and absence scenes . Small kids also become prone to such vulgarity in movies . The effect is normally a bad one. The mind of the young generation become corrupt by the passion and cruelty spread in the movies.

To sum up the need of censorship in movies is a must in its real sense . By just giving a certificate , the purpose is not served because such movies are available on cable . To keep the young generation clean and clear in their thought habits , attitudes the unnecessary scenes from the movies should be curtailed.

The Censor Board in India mainly consists of two types of members .

1. Board members

2. Panel members.

Board members

The board members are honouree members who are renowned people from different sections of society.they constitute of lawyers,journalists,etc..there are in all 24 board members throughout the country.

the board members are basically policy makers of censor board . there main function is to make necessary amendments

so that the censor board can work efficiently with the ever changing Indian society .The board members need not work on all days and their participation is limited.

Panel members

The panel members have a more active role to play in censor board . The panel too are selected from different cross section of the society .

They are selected by the government on recommendation of the board . In Mumbai censor

board there are 50 panel members . The panel members do the job of censoring the movies . In addition they are provided with passes to all movie theatres so that they can see the movie and also judge the public reactions.

One third of the panel members are changed every two years so that the the board can get people with new views.

FINDINGS

The censor board has a list of guidelines which are made so as to enable it's smooth functioning . However it was found the board members rely more on their instincts than the lists provided to them . The reason for this was that the censor board members feel that due to the continuous changes in society ,it is not always possible to follow a written list, they feel that decisions have to be taken based on the current trends of the society rather the a fixed list of guidelines .When this team conducted a survey to find out what the common man feels are the criterias followed by the censor board the following were the findings,

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As mentioned earlier the censor board members and the panel members are selected from different parts of the society . However it was found that the majority of the board and the panel members are from the film industry itself . When public opinion regarding the selection of members was asked, it was found that most the people felt that the board should constitute more of public representatives and film critics.

The public of India feels that the censor board is required so that the younger generation is not spoiled , due to the excess violence,sex and horror shown in the movies.

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The people of the board also feel that the board has become outdated and needs an update .There are many factors which are not properly judged by the board members . The survey conducted by this group showed the following results

As mentioned it was found that censor board requires some changes

The following were some of them

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Based on the study conducted by the group ,it was found that the censor board is doing an important job , but a few changes are still required.

It was found that at present the censor board

Only censors movies . But the survey shows that people are of the opinion that censorship of other parts of media like music videos , theatres etc. . Are also required .

It was found that the people are of the opinion that the censor board needs to have more of public representatives then that at present .

The people are of the opinion that foreign film makers are avoiding India due to the censor board

Hence steps should be taken to prevent this .

APPENDIX

When the film fire opened in cinemas it undoubtedly caused outrage enlightenment and confusion . Fire had already been shown in many other countries but the Indian censor board wanted to give it a thorough examination . It allowed fire to been shown with no cuts . In addition to women kissing ,the film had a brief nude scene .

When the film was shown at two Indian film festivals there were strong reactions including negative ones from the influential social conservatives in India . Film protagonist are sisters-in-law trapped in emotionally bleak marriages who turned to each other for comfort , love , and eventually sex.

Says Deepa Mehta " it has caused outrage love and confusion . Despite its vast output and long history Indian cinema has rarely ventured into such a realm ".

On Dec. 3 1998 two hundred Hindu nationalist vandalised two cinema halls in mumbai for showing "FIRE".

A Mumbai socialist turned writer slammed attacks saying that they did not reflect the public mood in the city."this is a minuscule section representing certain a view. The whole city does not think like that.

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INTRO: WE ARE ENGG. STUDENTS OF F.C.R.I.T COLLEGE ,VASHI ,WRITING A REPORT ON WHETHER THE CENSOR BOARD NEEDS MODIFICATIONS . PLEASE TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE YOUR VIEWS BY FILLING THIS QUESTIONNAIRE.

1. IS CENSOR BOARD REQUIRED IN INDIA?

YES | |

NO | |

CAN'T SAY | |

2. DO YOU THINK MOVIES LIKE 'SATYA, AND 'VAASTAV' GLORIFY CRIME?

YES | |

NO | |

CAN'T SAY | |

3. ARE FOREIGN FILMMAKERS AVOIDING INDIA DUE TO CENSORBOARD?

YES | |

NO | |

CAN'T SAY | |

4. DO YOU THINK THE CENSORSHIP IN INDIA IS OUTDATED AND IS IN NEED OF AN UPDATE?

YES | |

NO | |

CAN'T SAY | |

5. AT PRESENT, WHAT IS THE CRITERIA OF CENSORSHIP IN INDIA?

INDECENT EXPOSURE | |

PROVOKING SCRIPTS | |

VIOLENCE | |

SENSATIONALISM | |

ANY OTHER CRITERIA........

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6. ACCORDING TO YOU, WHAT SHOULD BE THE CRITERIA OF CENSORSHIP IN INDIA?

SEX | |

UNETHICAL MESSAGES | |

ANY OTHER CRITERIA....... | |

7. WHO SHOULD CONSTITUTE THE CENSOR BOARD?

FILM ACTORS | |

FILM CRITICS | |

PUBLIC | |

8. SHOULD CENSOR BOARD BE ONLY LIMITED TO MOVIES OR SHOULD IT COVER MUSIC VIDEOS ,THEATRES ETC.?

YES | |

NO | |

CAN'T SAY | |

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