What the cut!

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma urges the industry to unite against censorship

Stating that censoring films was actually an insult to audiences, well known film director Ram Gopal Varma on Wednesday called for a ban on censorship. Taking to his X timeline to pen his thoughts on why he thought censorship was unnecessary, Ram Gopal Varma said, “Censoring films actually is an insult to the audiences. In an era of smartphones, global streaming, and access to infinite information, to pretend that a government appointed committee (What is the qualification of its members ?) can shield adults from the film makers' perspective of any truth is not only outdated, but it's also idiotic.”

He went on to say, “Here’s the fundamental hypocrisy. If an adult is mature enough to vote for the leader of the country, raise families, run businesses, why the hell can't they decide for themselves what to watch?”

Pointing out that while on the one hand, the government was trusting adults with the ballot, which shapes the future of more than a billion people, it was at on the other hand, thinking that a scene in a film might spoil them.

“That’s not safeguarding society but infantilising it. An 18-year-old can choose the leader, but needs some random committee member to decide if hearing a cuss word or watching a shot is corruptive,” he added.

Stating that a movie was dramatic storytelling from the perspective of a film maker and that it was the viewers prerogative to agree or disagree, he said, “Cutting a scene for theatrical release is laughable because the uncut version will hits torrents, Telegram, and all international platforms within hours.”

“Case in point is the head banging scene in OBSESSION which after the censors cut it, must have been seen by 10 times more people on Insta reels than who actually watched the film in the theatres,” he said.  

Claiming that censorship doesn’t hide content but that it actually creates more demand, Ram Gopal Varma said, in times of AI tools and borderless Internet, gatekeeping was a joke. 

“I think it’s time for the industry to come together to challenge the very existence of the censor board in its present form, both in courts and public discourses. Democracy demands free expression and in a connected world, isolating and mutilating cinema is not just being blind and deaf . it is actually suicidal for our growth. #BanTheCensor,” he wrote.