Supporting CBFC's decision to red flag director Suman Ghosh's documentary on Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, West Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh on Wednesday said the board had the power to pass a movie or stall it based on its evaluation.
"The board has the right to decide which film to censor and which to pass. I do not think any film should be passed just because someone special has appeared in it," Ghosh said.
"I was also a member of the board. There can be many controversial aspects of a film. The importance and significance of certain things can change depending on the situation and context. The reactions to them might also vary," he added.
The Central Board of Film Certification has stalled the release of the documentary, objecting to four words used by Sen — cow, Gujarat, Hindu, and Hindutva.
According to the documentary's maker, officials verbally asked him to mute those four words to get a U/A certification.
The director opposed the suggestion, stating it would kill the essence of the documentary.
The hour-long documentary titled 'The Argumentative Indian', shot over a span of 15 years and featuring several notable economists like former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is primarily structured as a freewheeling conversation between Sen and his student and Cornell Economics Professor Kaushik Basu. It has already been screened in New York and London.
A special screening was held in Kolkata on Monday and the documentary was scheduled for release at a number of theatres on Friday.