Filmmaker Jharana Jhaveri is upset - her documentary Charlie and the Coca Cola Company has been refused a certification by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). Jhaveri and Anurag Singh, together founded Jan Madhyam Productions, their new film revolves around two Coca Cola plants in Mehdiganj in north-eastern Uttar Pradesh and the protests by the farmers against the over-extraction of groundwater there at a negligible cost.
Jan Madhyam had applied for a censor certificate from the CBFC in April and have now received a response from the Board stating “Certificate Refused”.
As per CBFC’s letter, the reason for refusing a certificate to Charlie and the Coca Cola Company is as follows:
The film more than education, is misleading and political motive (sic). Hence the film is not passed in its present form.Central Board of Film Certification
The filmmakers do not plan to take the CBFC’s decision lying down and are planning to file an RTI. “An RTI will expose the CBFC’s stated problem. Every film be it a documentary or fiction - is either politically motivated, subjective or personal,” says Jhaveri.
Reacting to the Board’s refusal to certify the documentary, filmmaker Pankaj Butalia commented on Facebook saying, “CBFC is a sick organisation. It is supposed to certify - not tell a filmmaker what kind of film to make. They are really exceeding their brief.”
Documentary filmmaker Rakesh Sharma took the issue further by suggesting, “I believe CBFC has to cite the specific clause and the subsection under which they are denying you a certificate. Failure to do so itself makes this ruling illegal, especially as there is no section in the Cinematograph Act or the Cinema Certification Rules that contains the grounds cited - “political film”.”
Sharma also added:
While it is important to fight it out legally, I’d suggest the strategy I used for Final Solution. I made a mockery of the ban by making the film freely and widely available. Online, and in the form of 20,000 discs. Within a week of the ban.Rakesh Sharma, Filmmaker
For now it seems the filmmakers have decided to go by Sharma’s suggestion and have put up the film’s YouTube links on their Facebook page.
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