‘Bombay’ Not Central Enough for CBFC?

CBFC asks producer Ashok Kaul to change his film’s title from Bombay Central to Mumbai Central.

Recently the CBFC decided to beep the word ‘Bombay’ in singer Mihir Joshi’s new track Sorry and now the Board has asked producer Ashok Kaul to change his film’s title from Bombay Central to Mumbai Central. Kaul has said, “Yes they have asked me to change the title of the film to Mumbai Central. My film is not through the Censors yet. They will revert in a day or two.”

Kaul, an ex-Army man who earlier directed Paramvir Chakra (1995) said his was a small festival film and isn’t a big commercial venture. He added, “I have a set deadline to send the film to the festival. If we don’t meet it, we will have to wait for a year. I will change the name. I was told by Censor Board this title will not be allowed. Their reason was that if it’s a contemporary film, then it should be Mumbai. However if it was (set in a period) before Bombay was rechristened Mumbai then that’s ok with them.”

To the question if he is upset with the Censor’s decision, Kaul replies, “I don’t have a comment on that for now. I will talk to the media at a later stage.”

Going by Kaul’s version of the Censor’s policy, Anurag Kashyap’s forthcoming film Bombay Velvet may not face any trouble at all with the CBFC since it is a period film.

To get a clarity on the Censor Board’s stand on the use of ‘Bombay’ we tried to contact Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani, but he didn’t respond to calls. Shravan Kumar, CEO of Censor Board said that he would reply to an email questionnaire soon. Ashoke Pandit, Member of CBFC who has been vocal about his displeasure with AIB spoke to the Quint but refused to give an official comment on what the Censor’s stand is on the usage of the word ‘Bombay’ in films and songs. He said, “The replacement of the word Bombay in the song was done in December last year by the earlier Censor Board. We were not there at that time. So we can’t comment on that. And when Mihir has accepted the certificate, there is no point in talking about it. He could have gone to the revising committee but he didn’t do it.”

Pandit went on to add, “I can’t comment on Bombay Central as the film has not come to me and I haven’t seen it. Officially no decision has been taken on the word ‘Bombay’. We have had no meetings on that. I don’t think (using the word) ‘Bombay’ should be an issue. If the film demands that kind of word, why should we ask not to do it? What is wrong with it?”