Item numbers under the Censor Board scanner

Item numbers under the Censor Board scanner

In the wake of heinous crimes being committed against women, the Censor Board intends to relook at dance numbers that objectify them

Meena Iyer and Hiren Kotwani

    Every Bollywood girl, big or small, continues to make a beeline for item songs. Priyanka Chopra and Sunny Leone are shaking their booty in Sanjay Gupta’s Shootout At Wadala, Sonakshi Sinha has done a retro number for Sajid Khan’s Himmatwala, Jacqueline Fernandez has turned desi for a dance number in Prabhudheva’s next… the list is endless. However, the joy of the item song for the girls and for the viewer may be short-lived because news has it that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) reportedly intends to scrutinise these songs closely. Post the shameful Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case, the Censor Board is taking up the dual role of the nation’s conscience keeper and the body that certifies films. New guidelines are being drawn up on how women will be treated on-screen. The idea is to ensure that ‘women are not objectified’. While the CBFC authorities maintain that there is no ban per se on item songs, filmmakers have started to feel the heat because there are a couple of cases where producers have been asked to rework their songs — both for bawdy lyrics and suggestive movements. Will the CBFC play spoilsport? Will the item song lose its edge? Will the lyrics be tamer? Will the definition of the term completely change?
Madhur Bhandarkar: Item song is a new term. Earlier, we had cabarets. Films can be moderated as we have a Censor Board to certify our films. So we know our limitations. But what about the monitoring of other content, like those on satellite television? What about music videos? I’m not talking about Indian music videos, but those of international artistes like Beyonce, Shakira, Lady Gaga to name some, which have provocative gestures and movements in their choreography. All this is accessible on the internet, cellphones and channels. Children watch it. How can that be controlled? Sajid Khan: I’ve never had any issues with Censor Board. My films are for the entire family. I don’t like double entendres or any dialogue related to sexuality in my movies. My films are clean as I don’t do anything that is vulgar to look at or cheap. Sanjay Gupta: There’s no such directive. Pankaja Thakur, CEO of CBFC has also denied reports of such directives. So why are we going ballistic over this?

Kareena Kapoor

Jacqueline Fernandez

Shriya Saran

ANJUM RAJABALI, SPOKESPERSON, CBFC
“Songs are not under threat from the CBFC. There is no move being contemplated against them. The job of CBFC is to certify films and promos. If the film or the song is quite clearly meant for a mature audience, it is certified as A. And, if this happens, then, as per the guidelines, it cannot be shown on TV.
    Sensuality is part of the aesthetic of art and cinema, and there should be no move to discourage it. It is just that when a portrayal is aimed at objectifying women as mere sex objects that it becomes questionable. Certification has to tread a very fine line when protecting the filmmaker’s creative freedom.”