A still from Emergency starring Kangana Ranaut
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is inhibiting the release of the Kangana Ranaut starrer and directorial Emergency, a biopic of Indira Gandhi, the actor-cum-Member of Parliament said on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday evening. Ms. Ranaut said that staff from the CBFC had faced threats due to the anticipated content of the film, leading the censor board to hesitate handing over the certificate to the producers.
Prasoon Joshi, the CBFC chairperson, did not immediately respond to a query on Friday evening. Records on the CBFC’s website show that the film has been cleared after a few modifications, which include: added smoking warnings on-screen, the muting of a “derogatory” word yelled out from a crowd following the “death of a public leader,” and replacing the term “Mr. President” with the Hindi “Rashtrapati ji”. For segments featuring a statement by former U.S. President Richard Nixon and archival footage from Operation Blue Star, among other things, the CBFC required documentation to be submitted.
It is not clear how the CBFC is withholding certification for a film it has already certified. The CBFC’s 2024 certification rules require that “[a] copy of certificate of a film referred to in sub-rule (1) shall accompany the film and be prominently exhibited in the theatre on all days on which the film is exhibited therein,” raising the possibility that the censor board may have simply withheld the certificate, even after approving the film, preventing the filmmakers from legally screening it.
This is not the first time that the CBFC has withheld certification for a film this year beyond ways that are outlined in its own founding law — the Cinematograph Act, 1952 — and the rules made thereunder. Earlier this year, the film Monkey Man, directed by and starring British actor Dev Patel, was submitted for certification, but the censor board has simply held off on screening the film for its examining committee, resulting in a de facto ban, The Hindu reported recently.