Bengal film board holds up film on Park Street rape

The Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal could soon be entangled in yet another controversy as the makers of a film on the much talked Park Street rape case alleged that the state censor board is intentionally holding up the film and asking for revisions that are “unnecessary”.

The film, made by yesteryears actor Partha Mukherjee, starring some prominent actors from the Bengali film industry, hit a brick wall after the censor board raised a number of questions and objected to several scenes, before sending it back to the film certification board’s revision committee. According to sources, while board members claimed that in the film, women have been shown in poor light in some of the scenes, the truth is far from it.

“The board members are all Trinamool appointees and they are just playing safe. None of them are willing to draw the ire of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, so they are stalling the film’s release,” said a film industry insider. 

She pointed out that while the ghost of the Park Street rape still haunts the state government, the chief minister does not like to be reminded of the incident where a single mother had cried rape and instead of taking stock of the situation, she called the complaint a conspiracy to malign the government.