Stalin opposes amendment to Cinematograph Act

New Delhi: The controversy over the Draft Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 2021 refused to die as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday opposed the Draft Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2021, saying the proposed “amendment itself is against the spirit of promoting rightful thinking in civil society,” and demanded for its withdrawal while a Parliamentary Panel on Information Technology headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor summoned officials to review the functioning of Central Board of Film Certification in context of Draft Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 2021. Several prominent personalities of film industries have slammed the draft report.

In a letter to Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said the proposed amendment to the Cinematograph Act seeks to restrict it by restoring the revisionary powers of the union government that was struck down by the Supreme Court two decades ago.  “I wish to reiterate that the draft amendment restoring the 'revisional power' to the Centre after it is certified by the CBFC is a misuse of 'reasonable restriction' clause under Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India.” 

“...and this draft amendment itself is against the spirit of promoting rightful thinking in sivil society,” Stalin said.

There were certain provisions which have practical difficulties in implementation like the age-wise grouping of the certification under three categories. Stalin pointed out that the Central Board of Film Certification



(CBFC) accords certification to movies if they meet all the criteria mentioned in section 5(a) of Act. The Act also provides for rejection of certification for a film on certain prescribed valid grounds.

Moreover, adequate provisions for exercising control over the film making is available in the form of guidelines. “Given all these, it is considered as excessive to add more laws and acts to throttle the freedom of a creative form in the 21st century,” Stalin said.

 “Evidence of the representatives of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on the subject Review of functioning of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in the context of Draft Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2021,” officials said on the condition of anonymity after the Parliamentary Panel meeting.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has proposed a new Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, 2021. Among other things, it allows the Union government to order a ‘re-examination of an already certified film if there are complaints against it. Last week, a letter from 3,000 film industry members to the I&B ministry called it “another blow to the film fraternity” and said “this provision will effectively give the Central Government supreme power over cinema exhibition in the country, potentially endangering freedom of expression and democratic dissent.” Signatories included Anurag Kashyap, Hansal Mehta, Farhan Akhtar, Mira Nair, and Rajeev Ravi.