A defiant slogan of protest “Start, action, no cuts” rang out in the air at the Chitranjali Studio complex in the capital on Monday, as a group of filmmakers, actors and technicians symbolically threw the scissors that they were holding up into the dustbin. The occasion had all the sense of drama typical of the films many of them have been part of, but this was to serve a much more serious purpose—to protest against the alleged increase in censorship of films.
The regional office of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) located inside the studio complex witnessed the coming together of various Malayalam film bodies for a common cause. The immediate provocation was the demand of the officials at the CBFC headquarters in Mumbai to the makers of the film JSK-Janaki vs State of Kerala, starring Union Minister Suresh Gopi, to change the title of the film. Another film, Token Number directed by M.B. Padmakumar, also faced a similar issue over the name ‘Janaki’ given to a character.
Representatives of the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA), Kerala Film Producers Association (KFPA) and the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) came together for the protest. Posters of past films with ‘Janaki’ in the title were displayed to send a message to the censors. Filmmakers and producers called for proper guidelines for censoring to prevent arbitrary decision-making, as happened in the case of JSK.
To ensure freedom
B. Unnikrishnan, general secretary, FEFKA, expressed hope that the protest would be taken up by the civil society in Kerala and cultural activists across the country. “We don’t see JSK as a film starring a Union Minister. Cinema also belongs to the filmmaker, the screenwriter and the producer. We see this as an issue that producers are facing. This protest is not just for this film. It is to ensure that all of us will continue to have the freedom to make the kind of films that we want to make. This campaign is just a beginning,” he said.
Producer M. Renjith said that the attempts at censoring were anti-democratic. Such tendencies would branch out of cinema into other spheres of life too, he said.
Filmmaker Shaji Kailas cautioned against giving a communal colour to everything. “Will they have a problem with my name too?” he asked.
Published – June 30, 2025 07:41 pm IST
