Suman Ghosh

Suman Ghoshs Directorial Aadhaar , which stars Viineet Kumar in the lead role, recently had its premiere at Busan International film festival, and opened to rave reviews. Set in 2011, the film is about the first person in his village in Jharkhand to get an Aadhaar card, the predicaments, and his journey. After Busan, the film is all set to have its Indian premiere at MAMI, and has now been selected at the Hawaii International Film Festival. It will be screened under the Spotlight on India category on November 16 and 17. Speaking about the response received by the film at Busan, Viineet had said, I was really surprised with the reaction of the audience towards the film, because somehow, the film is deeply connected with the ground realities of our country, and Indians will easily be able to relate to it. But to see International audience glued to their seats till the end, and understand the nitty-gritties was a heart-warming experience. Even in the question and answer session, their observations were very insightful. Many of them were also keen to know about my preparation for the role, since the character is unique. Viineet was recently seen in Bard of Blood, and is also gearing up for the release of Saand Ki Aankh , which also stars Taapsee Pannu and Bhumi Pednekar.

While there has been an intellectual uproar over the cuts ordered by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in Suman Ghoshs documentary The Argumentative Indian , the CBFC chairperson speaking on the cuts exclusively to this writer, argues that the mere deletion or beeping of six words is no reason to feel creatively smothered when those words indicate a clear contempt for Indian culture and democracy. Says Nihalani, Ive been flooded with calls from print and television channels asking why weve beeped six words in the documentary. For the first and last time, heres the reason why. Because we felt a documentary on an Indian Nobel laureate referring so insensitively to our politics and religion could result in a serious breach in the peace and harmony of the country. At one point Prof Sen talks of Indian democracy and refers to Gujarats criminalities. Weve asked for Gujarat to be removed. At another point in the documentary there is a reference to the enemy in India being religious leadership. Weve asked for India to be removed here. The third word weve ordered cut is when Prof Sen speaks of India being interpreted as Hindu. Weve asked for Hindu to be removed. The fourth cut is that of the word cow where Prof Sen while speaking of religious integration makes a frivolous reference to the cow. The fifth and according to us minor change is in Prof Sens line about the Vedas being used in a sectarian way these days. Weve asked for the words used and these days to be removed. And finally Prof Sen refers to the Hindutva view of India as banal. We asked for the offensive adjective to be removed. Nihalani says the 6 words removed the documentary is wrongly being seen as pro-government chamchagiri.We are not asking for the removal of the words under pressure from the Government. We seriously feel the removal of the words causes no injury to Prof Amartya Sens thought processes in the documentary. On the other hand referring to a cow in a flippant manner or calling Hindutva banal could seriously breach the communal harmony of the country. When filmmakers talk about freedom of expression they should know that such freedom comes with a responsibility. You may be a Nobel laureate. But if you speak disparagingly about things held sacred by the population you are vulnerable to attacks. Nihalani wants the documentarys director Suman Ghosh to calm down. Simply reacting because six words are beeped out when they in no way affect your artistic freedom is just a knee-jerk reaction. Please look at the larger picture. The censor chief also points out a serious legal breach on the part of this documentarys makers. They have screening the film without a censor certificate in various public places of India. Thats illegal. Freedom of expression is fine. What about breaking the law?