Censorship – The Arts

In the Shade of Fallen Chinar, a short documentary on Kashmir that was embroiled in controversy after being denied censorship exemption by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting last year, hit another stumbling block after being disallowed from screening at the ongoing Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) in its designated slot. Shot by Fazil NC and Shawn Sebastian, the 16-minute documentary had been selected for the national competition section at the biennial festival organised by the Films Division of I&B ministry. It was scheduled to be screened at the 4.30-6.30 pm slot on Monday.

“The film hasn’t received the certification from the CBFC to be screened. As per the Cinematography Act, a film requires certification or censor exemption. If the certification is there, we don’t have any problem with screening the documentary,” said Manish Desai, Director General, Films Division and Director MIFF 2018. He, however, stated that the film is still in the competition.