Vikram Bhatt pours his heart out over his tryst with CBFC

September 12, 2016 - 2:40 PM IST

The maverick filmmaker Vikram Bhatt is extremely busy with the release of his next film Raaz Reboot, which releases this week. There have been many times when Vikram Bhatt had major differences with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). And Raaz Reboot is no different. Recently, Vikram Bhatt took to the social media and poured his heart out over his tryst with CBFC, in which, amongst other things, he tells the reason for him to be tired, feeling un-important, defeated and helpless.

This is what Vikram Bhatt wrote:

Vikram Bhatt pours his heart out over his tryst with CBFC

"MY TRYST WITH CBFC CONTINUES UNABATED!

Beating our chests and crying ourselves hoarse in an attempt to be heard on film censorship seems to be going nowhere. We are just entertainers at the end of the day. We don't come anywhere close to the turnover of big business houses. All we have is some noise value. We would like to imagine that we have some kind of soft power. The truth is that we have no power.

Stifling that one lone voice by giving that voice an agenda is perhaps the way of the establishment to silence that voice. Yet I am alone and with just one agenda, please show me the way here!

So the censor board this time is more progressive than it was in my earlier film Love Games. They have allowed the "F*#&", "F*&#£*&" and "F*£# *#&" lots more than they have in the earlier films with an A certificate, of course!

But wait! There is a sequence in my film Raaz Reboot where the possessed girl in a fit of demonic rage keeps swearing at the protagonist. She screams, "F*&# &#*!" not once or twice but exactly thirty-two times and that too in quick satanic kind of succession.

Now please understand this is a woman who is possessed. In her resides a spirit that is everything that God is not. It is a vile and unclean force. How am I going to portray such a force if everything that the force does is cultured and dignified? Odd no

Now the Censors want me to cut half the "F*&# *#*" and retain only sixteen.

Why sir? Why retain half? What is the logic? The logic is that thirty-two "F*#& **#" is just too many and it cannot be allowed. But why then is sixteen not too many? Cause sixteen is not thirty-two. And it is as simple as that!

I sense that my producer Mukesh Bhatt who has stood by me through sick and sin will fight this out should I want but I don't want to put him through another ordeal. I agree albeit with a mind filled with rampant confusion. Sixteen "F*#& *&#" is what I will be allowed. Like it or lump it.

But if I thought that my struggle was done, I was wrong. It was only just beginning. If I thought that the film was the problem it was not. My promotion was going to be a bigger battle.

I have made a horror film and I cannot showcase horror, unless I use YouTube. Horror gets an A certificate and you need a UA certificate to run promos on TV. But there is a huge audience out there that doesn't even go to YouTube. How do I reach them?

Here starts my tryst.

I ask my promo makers to study shows like "Aahat" on Sony TV and "Fear files" on Zee TV that showcase horror and ask them to stay within the confines of the shows to cut the promos. They cut three twenty-second promos that are barely horrific. We send them for censor and one comes back with an UA certificate while the other two come back with an A certificate. I am appalled. They are lukewarm at best and yet?

I pace the floor and have a chat with myself. Fear after all is subjective and what maybe scary for one may not be scary for another. So I think of an idea.

I am going to make promos that take the audiences to a point and then there comes a super that reads, "world's scariest day 16th September." Surely a clever way to show that my film is scary without showing anything scary?

Now follow what happened closely. I applied for both television and theatrical certificates for the very same promos.

I was shocked when I was told that the promos received a UA certificate for theatres but A for television. The same promo? Yes, the same one, A for TV and UA for theatres. Why? No one had an explanation! Please note that the one that got an A for TV was a watered down version of the previous one that got a UA for TV!

When I write this piece I am struggling to make a promo that passes the censor and yet tells the audience that I have horror in my film.

So this piece is me screaming out loud in the darkness, "Is anybody there? Is anyone listening to me? Is there anyone out there who can help me? I am all alone here!"

I am tired and I am feeling un-important. I am feeling defeated and helpless. "Is there anyone out there who can show me the way? Is there anyone who cares for entertainers?"

Is there anyone out there who can hear me banging against the iron bars screaming, 'Hey! Help me! Get me out of here! Get me out of my prison!"