Now, who’s showing ‘besharam rang’?

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)’s direction to the makers of Pathaan, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone, to make changes in the film is wrong and hurtful of artistic freedom and the right to expression. CBFC chairperson Prasoon Joshi has said that changes will have to be made in the movie, including in its songs, in accordance with the Board’s guidelines. He has not spelt out in detail the changes that should be made.

The costume worn by Padukone during a song sequence Besharam Rang and the lyrics of the song itself have been targeted for attack in the last few weeks.

The name of the film has also been criticised. There are reports that CBFC has issued its orders, though they are yet to be officially announced. The attacks had come from prudish and bigoted sections of society, driven by communal sentiments and even political and personal prejudice against the actors. The CBFC should not have acted at their bidding.

Read | CBFC asks ‘Pathaan’ makers to make 'changes' in songs

Prasoon Joshi has cited “culture and faith” as the reason for the decision and has said that they “will not be allowed to get defined by trivia which takes the focus away from the real and the true”. Whatever that means, the message is that culture and faith as being increasingly defined by the powers-that-be will prevail in films as elsewhere. Culture, tradition and even faith mean different things to different people.

One version of them cannot be considered as the right one and should not be imposed on others. Those who understand them differently should not be attacked and targeted for their views either. The country is becoming increasingly bigoted and intolerant and communally divisive. The usual reason to attack a film or a book or a work of art is that it has hurt the sentiments of a community— majority, minority or of any other kind. But art is expected to provoke and even hurt, so that the community introspects and improves. That is a social function of art.

The CBFC is an autonomous body and it should not take its decisions on the basis of political signals or pressure.

A former CBFC chairperson, Pahlaj Nihalani, has criticised its decision and stated that it might have acted under pressure. The ruling establishment, including Madhya Pradesh minister Narottam Mishra, had criticised the film and called for its boycott. The politics of Shah Rukh Khan and Padukone is also considered to be a factor in all this. Such campaigns and attacks on films for extraneous reasons violate the freedoms of citizens and artists. The CBFC should judge films on their terms and should not be guided by politics.