Art for art’s sake, art for entertainment, art for social justice. Whichever way one can seek to define art one cannot under-represent its value and functionality. Artistic expression is about the basic concept of realizing human potential. Our thoughts, emotions need a vent, a release to the questions that cloud our existence, which understands its wonder and foresees a desired future. Art is representative of human autonomy. That we are independent from each other with a difference of opinion, and thus freedom of expression comes in. That our perceptions, our viewpoint is valued, this ideal is the cornerstone of democracy, in which every individual has an equal right and opportunity to express their ideas. Such process is how we challenge and evolve. New ideas flowing towards growth. Imagination is creativity and without creativity nothing moves. Art allows us to feel, react and connect.
As humans, our experiences are so diverse that no one truth can be true. Thus collective narratives form the basis of society. The need to look at our world without prejudice or coercion, telling the story as different people perceive it, discovering and rediscovering ourselves as the narrative unfolds. This allows us to face what needs to be challenged, embrace what needs to be protected and initiate dialogue when change is necessitated.
Art has the potential to bring about change, enable action where there is fear and through an artist we can experience and aspire for a reality that does not exist. Freedom of artistic expression is fundamental. When we cannot say what we want to then we have a problem.
A song, a painting, a movie, a novel might be created for a certain kind of expression. It could be to entertain, to showcase beauty or bring to light certain injustice that prevails, never categorical though, but a continuum varying in degree of expression.
Across the world, Censorship efforts try to suppress or control ideas from public forums. What is offensive communication and what should be banned however varies from country to country. In India, the freedom of speech that is guaranteed by the Constitution can be withheld if the state finds it objectionable, harmful or necessary to maintain communal harmony.
One of the important censorship boards in India that looks into public communication is the Central Board of Film Certification or censor board which comes under the purview of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The censorship of films is governed by the Cinematograph Act, 1952. It assigns certification as Universal, Adults, and Parental Guidance to films in India before public exhibition. It also can order a director to remove anything from their film which could be considered as offensive or politically subversive. Because of the various powers that the censorship board has, the government has appointed a committee that allows to overlook the functions of the censor board.
Censorship exists to rightly protect the people from communal upheaval and prejudiced judgments. The question however rests on what is to be censored?
Previous experience has shown that censoring is indeed an eyewash without much thought. It cuts not that which is offensive, but rather that which probably disturbs the hypocritical puritans of our society. Their greatest attempt has been to portray our society as asexual, patriarchal and with popularity of thought.
No doubt then the films that are screened in our cinemas have gone through a purification drill. Every foreign film is cleared of every possible scene that has to be do with any form of human sexual expression even when the film has been certified for adult viewing only. It looks like in an over populated country such as ours, nobody is having sex. What lies are we feeding the nation especially our youth?
But it’s just not foreign films that get a beating, the recent ‘Udta Punjab’ had its share of controversy. By showcasing the reality the movie depicts of Punjab one brings to light the growing concern of a given society and the urgency needed to combat it. By keeping this within the closets of our puritanical societal attitudes are we not doing more damage?
With the recently-formed Shyam Benegal Committee (2016) on film censorship, one would expect new suggestions that would combat the shallowness of Censoring. While censoring itself has been removed, two new certifications “ for minors and for adults have been introduced. Will such recommendations be helpful or would this change in fact make it even more difficult to pass the test.
Giving such control to the censorship board on the basis that they will act more maturely, are we overlooking some basic functions of artistic expressions? Will the narrative be influenced with certification or the truth? Could art be used for social change and justice? Will it influence the type of art that will be available for the audience? Will it in fact make our society more subjugated, more docile, and more imprisoned?
The ideas that have been curtailed through censorship have proved to be the ones that our society has to confront more than anything.
