Censor and Sensibility
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She had already rocked the male-dominated mystery-action genre in Hollywood. After the critical and commercial success of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo internationally, the Indian audience too was eagerly waiting to watch the fiercely-independent and asocial Lisbeth Salander avenge her sexual abuse; flirt with an investigative journalist and help solve a crime. However, to their disappointment, the Hollywood adaptation of Steig Larsson's international bestseller by the same name is not likely to have an India release. The reason being cited is that the film's director, David Fincher, is unwilling to abide by the cuts suggested by India's Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).
While the movie's Indian distributor, Sony Pix, maintains that they are yet to take a final call on whether they will release the film with the cuts, CBFC says that they cannot allow the sadistic violence and full-frontal nudity without pixelation. "We certify on behalf of the audience and if the feedback we receive on usual basis indicates that such content will not be appreciated, we cannot give them the desired certificate," points out Pankaja Thakur, CEO, CBFC. "CBFC is still tackling official complaints about Delhi Belly even though the film was certified as Adult," she adds.
The censorship of Hollywood films in India has always been a controversial issue. The urban audience has often complained about the fact that chunks of these films are cut out or words beeped out to suit the CBFC's sense of morality. The Board, in fact, was criticised for having had the expletives beeped out "unnecessarily" in Fincher's last release, The Social Network. Thakur accepts that they made a mistake there, but blames such incidents on other factors such as a lack of communication between the Board and the studios. "We have been attempting to make censoring a joint process between the Board members and the filmmakers, where we can discuss and find a common solution to the issues. However, when a Hollywood film comes for censoring, the studios don't bother sending across a representative with powers to take a decision," says Thakur.
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