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Censor board ban on Dalit movie triggers controversy
Is it a sin to examine through a film whether the Dalits had really benefited from the social movements led by Mahatma Gandhi? Is it illegal to depict in a movie atrocities against Dalit women? Ordinary citizens may not find fault with such things but the Central Board of Film Certification (censor board) thinks differently.
The censor board’s decision to deny permission for screening to Papilio Buddha, a movie on Kerala Dalits’ plight directed by US-based Keralite filmmaker Jayan Cherian, has triggered a controversy. Jayan, who is critical of the board’s decision to deny permission to his film on “unrealistic ground,” has decided to appeal against it.
According to a letter the filmmaker received from the Thiruvananthapuram unit of the board, Papilio Buddha was denied permission for screening due to the visuals and dialogues denigrating Gandhiji, visuals of extreme violence against women and usage of “filthy” language by several characters throughout the film.
Set in the context of the Dalit campaigns for land to live in Wayanad, Kerala, Papilio Buddha is discussing the crises being faced by the Dalits in the State. It also debates whether Mahatma Gandhi’s advocacy on behalf of Dalits benefited the community. The director asserts that his film is a mirror that reflects the plight of Dalits in Kerala.
Papilio Buddha is inspired by several events that occurred in various Dalit communities in Kerala, including their struggles for land in places such as Chengara in Pathanamthitta and Meppadi and Muthanga in Wayanad district and their effects on the Dalit populations.
The filmmaker says that he had not even thought of stirring up controversies while making the movie which is depicting the atrocities against Dalits, women and environment, adding that his efforts were to tell the story truthfully and effectively. However, he does not intend to make compromises in order to satisfy anybody.
Jayan Cherian, hailing from Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district, has screened his films at Cannes, Athens International Film Festival, Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival, San Francisco Shorts International Film Festival and Big Apple Film Festival at Tribeca Cinema in New York.
Is it a sin to examine through a film whether the Dalits had really benefited from the social movements led by Mahatma Gandhi? Is it illegal to depict in a movie atrocities against Dalit women? Ordinary citizens may not find fault with such things but the Central Board of Film Certification (censor board) thinks differently.
The censor board’s decision to deny permission for screening to Papilio Buddha, a movie on Kerala Dalits’ plight directed by US-based Keralite filmmaker Jayan Cherian, has triggered a controversy. Jayan, who is critical of the board’s decision to deny permission to his film on “unrealistic ground,” has decided to appeal against it.
According to a letter the filmmaker received from the Thiruvananthapuram unit of the board, Papilio Buddha was denied permission for screening due to the visuals and dialogues denigrating Gandhiji, visuals of extreme violence against women and usage of “filthy” language by several characters throughout the film.
Set in the context of the Dalit campaigns for land to live in Wayanad, Kerala, Papilio Buddha is discussing the crises being faced by the Dalits in the State. It also debates whether Mahatma Gandhi’s advocacy on behalf of Dalits benefited the community. The director asserts that his film is a mirror that reflects the plight of Dalits in Kerala.
Papilio Buddha is inspired by several events that occurred in various Dalit communities in Kerala, including their struggles for land in places such as Chengara in Pathanamthitta and Meppadi and Muthanga in Wayanad district and their effects on the Dalit populations.
The filmmaker says that he had not even thought of stirring up controversies while making the movie which is depicting the atrocities against Dalits, women and environment, adding that his efforts were to tell the story truthfully and effectively. However, he does not intend to make compromises in order to satisfy anybody.
Jayan Cherian, hailing from Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district, has screened his films at Cannes, Athens International Film Festival, Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival, San Francisco Shorts International Film Festival and Big Apple Film Festival at Tribeca Cinema in New York.
