India Censor Board Refuses Permit to Gandhi Film

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Sex, smoke, meat in Gandhi film

HindustanTimes.com

New Delhi, June 14, 2005

Rajendra Prasad is no Richard Attenborough and his Residue-Where the

Truth Lies is no Gandhi. Reportedly upset at his irreverent portrayal

of the Mahatma, the Censor Board has refused to certify Prasad's film.

 

The letter issued by the Board spells out the reason for its

decision: "The film is based on the lives and events of national

leaders and indeed towards this end various events of the British pre-

independence and post-independence, etc. are also depicted. They felt

that since that (sic) events are depicted in bits and pieces it leads

(sic) a colour of controversy. Hence it has been unanimously

recommended for Refusal of Certificate to the film."

 

No great believer in Gandhian philosophy, Prasad is certainly

treading on dangerous ground. Although his film shows the Father of

the Nation smoking, eating meat and visiting prostitutes, the

cameraman-turned-filmmaker claims it is all drawn from Gandhi's own

autobiography The Story of My Experiments With Truth (Satya Ke

Prayog).

 

"I have shown nothing that the book doesn't contain. Gandhiji has

written how in his young age he used to sleep with women, smoke and

eat meat. I have done no wrong. I don't understand why my film is not

worth releasing. I have appealed to the tribunal for a review," he

says.

 

According to Prasad, he's also taken up the matter with Censor Board

chief Sharmila Tagore: "I spoke to her about Residue-Where the Truth

Lies but she says that Indian viewers can't watch such a film. They

will not accept it because Gandhiji is the Father of the Nation."

 

Prasad, a Film and Television Institute Of India (FTII) graduate,

goes on to defend one particular scene that shows Gandhi in bed with

a woman. "It's just a passing shot. The way I have picturised it,

Gandhiji is in the bedroom with a woman and one of his followers

peeps in. It's not a long sequence and there's nothing derogatory or

offensive about it," he says.

 

While admitting that his film concentrates on the weaknesses in the

Mahatma's life, Prasad insists he hasn't erred in any way. "Gandhiji

himself confessed to all these bad habits as a young man. So why is

it wrong if I show that on screen?" he says.

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