Censor board recommends six cuts in the Bengali film "Shunyota" post-demonetisation woes

Kolkata : The censor board has recommended six cuts in the Bengali film "Shunyota" (Emptiness), that deals with the plight of people post-demonetisation, for a U/A certificate, the filmmaker said here on Saturday. He added he will accept them.

In a letter to the movie director Suvendu Ghosh on Friday, the Kolkata regional office of the Central Board of Film Certification has asked him to communicate within 15 days his "acceptance or otherwise" of he recommended cuts. The missive said, the cuts were decided as per the directives of the CBFC chairperson and recommendations of the examination committee.

".. This is to inform you that that as per the directives of the chairperson, CBFC, as well as the recommendation of the Examination Committee, your film has been passed for issue of certificate under 'U/A category with the cuts."

The recommended cuts included deletion of two sequences and muting of four sentences/parts of sentences/words with beeps.

One of the recommended deletions was a ten-second sequence that talks of "a large number of unacceptable death processions in the country revolving around demonetisation".

Ghosh was also asked to mute a part of a sentence with a beep that says "the government has committed the wrong, and while the big fish will survive, the small fish will be trapped".

"If I accept the four mutes and two deletions, the film will be passed," said Ghosh, adding: "I will go by the recommendations."

Earlier, the Kolkata Regional Office of the SBFC had referred the film to the board's Chairman Pahlaj Nihalni for a decision on certification citing "differences of opinion among members of the (examining) committee".

Ghosh has claimed his film was the first on demonetisation.