Maatr gets censor clearance in time for release

18 Apr 2017

The censor board has acted swiftly and so have the producers of Maatr.The controversial film on rape which was refused censor certificationon Saturday, obtained its clearanceon Tuesday afternoon thereby paving the way for its release on timethis Friday. Apparently producers did something awfully smart. Instead of taking their film to theRevising Committee (RC) after the film was refused certification by theExamining Committee (EC) producer AnjumRizvisubmitted the filmon Mondayas a completely new product with voluntary cuts, says a source. That did the trick. Maatr was cleared with some cuts for Adults Only. Says censor chief PahlajNihalani, The producers of Maatr came back to uson Mondaywith the film. Our Examining Committeebroke the queue to re-view Maatr.This time the film was passed with three visual cuts and one general (audio) cut. When asked why the queue had been brokenNihalanisaid, From the time I took over as the chairperson of theCBFCit has been my endeavor to ensure that no producers incur any losses because of theCBFC. We understand Maatr is a small meaningful film and any delay would be financially burdensome for the producers. My entireExamining Committeeco-operated to ensure a swift certification for the film. AddsNihalani, I would like to say one thing about films which generate controversies through censor stories. TheCBFCis not a tool for publicity. We do not leak out the cuts, restrictions refusals, etc. Then how do these get in the public domain?