‘A thrilling mad magic show’, read the punchline of a recently-released Kannada film, Romanchana (Excitement) which sought to conjure magic at the box office by screening “censored portions” of the movie.
But the magic failed to work as the Censor Board officials, along with Upparpet police, raided Aparna theatre and seized prints and posters of the film on Monday.
The raid was conducted 20 minutes after the evening show began. Theatre manager Mruthyunjaya and operator Nagaraj were arrested. Upparpet police sub-inspector S D Shashidhar got the tickets refunded to viewers.
Censor Board regional officer A Chandrashekar said, "Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) had issued a ‘U’ certificate for the film with five cuts. Producers, distributors and exhibitors have violated Section 7 of Cinematograph Act by incorporating obscene scenes and screening the same.”
He said the board’s advisory panel members — K G Nagalakshmi Bai and S Narayanaswamy — watched the movie on Sunday and submitted a report. Based on their observations, the board decided to conduct the raid and confiscate prints.
The theatre manager said, “Initially, our security staff did not permit the Censor Board official to enter the hall, but I intervened and ensured she got the ticket. She did not utter a word, but now they are saying they warned us.”
The film has been produced by Ravi Rajesh of Ravi Creations. Efforts to contact the distributor were in vain.
On the next course of action, Mr Chandrasekhar “The seized print will be submitted to the court. We don't know about other prints being shown at other centres.”