Kambhakt ways of film censorship
‘You girls are good only for one thing.’
– quote, unquote Akshay Kumar, in the theatrical promo of Kambakht Ishq
A film trailer is a trailer. And the completed film, that is released, is another story altogether. Elementary logic dictates that the trailer and the film should be certified separately by the censors. And thank the lord, that’s the way it is done.
At the very outset, let me make it clear that I am writing this – not to make a case for the need of censorship at all. Far from it. I am writing this simply to point out the absurd and impenetrable manner in which the film censor worthies execute the responsibility and powers assigned to them.
At the top of the Central Board of Film Certification iceberg, count the current chairperson Sharmila Tagore, who given her awesome Satyajit Ray credentials, can presumably tell the difference between a David Dhawan and a Kieslowski. And then there are the regional officers who, by bureaucracy norms are not meant to get themselves any semblance of media publicity.
But of late officer Vinayak Azad could well become the next-most-quoted individual next to the Mahesh Bhatt of yore. Let’s just hope that he doesn’t have glamorous photo-session pix to give the journos to accompany his quotes.
Strangely, though, he was ureachable on Saturday-Sunday as some of us sought to register protests against the use of that extremely offensive line of dialogue in the Kambakht Ishq trailer.
As for Ms Tagore, I believe, has told a TV channel that she found nothing offensive about the line.
To each his or her own. The issue here is that those who feel strongly about the representation of women in the media, do feel offended. Not much can be said of Ms Tagore in this sphere. Because Ms Tagore has always appeared to reside in an ivory tower. Has she ever sought the opinions of the masses and the mandarins about where film censorship is going? Tcah, where’s there time?
By the way, the film censor chairperson’s appointment is believed to be largely because of ‘political’ patronage. It will be interesting to see what happens to her chair after the results of the forthcoming general elections.
Those connected with Kambakht Ishq have argued that the dialogue with a bias against women has to be considered in the context of the entire picture. Now what about those who just see the trailer and don’t want to see the rest of Kambakht Ishq at all? And what about the fact that this line of dialogue – an eve teaser’s delight – is being used as a promotional device?
It cannot be blared, in isolation, over television, radio or imprinted on posters and hoardings. It cannot be argued, “Hey guys, see the rest of the film and you’ll know why we were degrading women.” The damage, dear guys, has already been done by then.
This is what we have come to in the name of popular entertainment – and that too at a time when cases of rapes, incest and assorted male bestiality have become everyday news. Women groups, critics of some conscience, and filmmakers of sinew and substance have devoted their lives and careers to working in their own little ways towards woman empowerment and equality.
Autorickshaws and railway train compartments are stamped with messages about woman shakti. But no, someone in Bollywood believes that all this is a joke. Funny?
If girls/women are good only for one thing, then ostensibly those involved with Kambakht Ishq are only good for one thing – making money, money, money till they don’t know what to do it.
Now, I’m told that the film’s story is about Akshay Kumar who’s a male chauvinistic pig (so, what’s new?)..and it’s about Kareena Kapoor who’s a supermodel (from which angle, pray?).
Supermodel makes him mend his ways (a Taming of the Shrew in reverse, ho hum). Whatever the final outcome may be, that doesn’t given producer Sajid Nadiadwala the licence to blare out a reprehensible line of dialogue before his ostensibly ‘wonderful’ product arrives.
This entire machismo harum scarum also brings down Akshay Kumar further in my estimation ever since he asked a woman in a supermarket – in Heyy Baby — about where he could get ‘milk’ for his baby. Inuendo intended.
Obviously, Akshay Kumar believes that such lines of dialogue won’t affect his popularity with the ladies. Believe me, it will, it will, the audience isn’t moronic, Mr Kumar. And to think just a few years ago, he didn’t want to mouth anti-Pakistan line of dialogue in a potboiler because that would affect his fan following overseas. Oh well.
Also, what the hell is Kareena Kapoor upto? She isn’t likely to be remembered among actresses who had a sensible head on her shoulders. Being in the top league of actresses is all that matters, never mind the rank vile kind of stuff that she is made to do – be it a bikinied airhead in Tashan or now a supermodel whose pout is third-rate copy of Urmila Matondkar’s. Sorry babes, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone and Genelia D’Souza have an edge. Tsk.
It was just a trailer, you might say. Chill. Sorry but the lusty manner in which the ‘only good for one thing’ was applauded by the male section of the audience at Bombay’s Apsara cinema, had to be heard to be believed.
Ms Sharmila Tagore should step out of her ivory-tower-like censor office on Walkeshwar, and see what kind of an impact, a clearly chauvinistic piece of dialogue can have on a sizeable part of the audience.
Incidentally, I was told that the trailer has an A certificate..but it was shown before the screening of Aa Dekhen Zara which has an UA certificate. So, what’s going on?
The answer my friends, like always, is blowin’ in the wind.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
I did see and hear this regressive line..but didn’t know it has been taken up by all of you…nice!
It is purely reprehensible. No amount of mouthing of need for democratic cinema ( wish people knew it stood for freedom of creativity in pure form, not a stretch of limits of obscenity) phrases can justify disdainful dialogues towards women.
At least a quick look at the movie in question does not exhibit any signs of method study involved or trying to be as close to the character involved and there by the need to mouth obscenities.
The problem with the Indian audience is that majority are yet to come to terms with ability to view entertainment without getting affected by it. If a hero mouths certain condescending dialogue it becomes a ready reckoner for the impressionable minds.
It is keeping this yet to come of age mass population in mind that the censors are here to play an important role. A nude in an English movie patronised by limited audiences in multiplexes is likely to have far limited negative impact than a distasteful putdown of the womenfolk even if by any stretch of imagination the dialogue is justifed for the character. But he censors seem to carry their scissors only to the English movies.
To be probably fair to the censors one wonders whether they actually watcht the movies. After all they must find it tough too, to watch mediocre stuff.
Am sure that the hero himself though may have dutifully obeyed the director will prevail on the team to ensure that the offending statement is removed from the trailors and if creativity permits from their film too. !!
regards
nd
Correct me if I got you wrong. You mean to say that the actor/director believes whatever is said or done in the movie by the characters. If the character of akshay kumar in kambhakt ishq says “women are good for only one thing”, should we assume that its akshay kumar’s views. Gimme a break. And even if it is his views, its none of our business to question his thought process.
Man, we are so kiddish while watching movies. We always want it to politically correct, socially uplifting and all that crap. Heck, I dont understand a single bit of it. If you feel offended by the trailer, donot watch it. Dont expect the censor board to do that cleaning job for you.
And what has movies got to do with women empowerment? Do you believe that movies can change society?
Censorship has always been kind of a joke in India.I mean if a movie is given ‘A’ certificate and if you still delete some scenes on the basis that it had sex or violence then why on earth is the ‘A’ certificate there for?Similarly they do not know what to allow & what to disallow.Lets what happens in this particular case of Kambakkht Ishq what happens.
“…and it's about Kareena Kapoor who's a supermodel (from which angle, pray?).”
LOL – you forgot to mention she is playing a surgeon/supermodel.
BTW Kareena’s contemporaries are Preity, Aishwarya, Amrita Rao who are doing better work. I would not include the younger Priyana, Deepika and Genelia in that group.
So somehow it is okay for Ransa you tell Madhuri that it is right that she is beaten up? Why don’t you protest against that too?
Am I missing something here? What sort of political correctness/censorship do you want? Just because this is a mainstream movie you decide there has to be evil behind it?
So some MCP character cracks a sexist line? Why is that an issue? Isn’t that what MCPs are suppose to say? Where do you draw the line? are you saying that if a director puts up sexist content but doesn’t make money of it, then it is okay for him to do so?
I am really confused here? Will you tell me exactly what I am missing!!?
where do u draw the line? how much can you get away with saying that it is the requirement of the script ? I can give umpteen examples of mc/bc usages in hindi cinema which is hailed as path breaking.. is it not derogratory ? ohh, again we have a counter argument that it is how we converse with people. then how can the above line by akshay kumar not fall into any of these categories?? is it not how majority of men think ?pray enlighten me.
If the trailer has got an A certificate and was shown during course a film with UA certification, is it the fault of the cast and crew of Kambakht ishq??
Tarantino’s movies have run into controversy [Please refrain from making hate comments].
Pauline Kael slammed Kubrick for Clockwork Orange, calling the rape scenes titilliating.
As for Akshay’s dialogue, its something guys generally use especially during an argument, so dont see whats the fuss about here.
Problem is we can never draw the line here, it would just get into a large grey area.
Are you serious? I there are people in our country who get all offended over cinema. In fact, it’s a shame that we even have censorship, considering I can probably count on my hands the amount of films that had real profanity (by real profanity i mean the f-bomb, mc, bc, etc and censors kill it by usually beeping it out which pisses me off to no extent) Same with the kambhakt ishq promo, they beeped out asshole and bitch, which pissed me off to no extent. It’s a film, and the film has a story that it wants to tell, a trailer is a representation of the film that the makers would like the base their decision on whether they want to watch the film or not. Who the hell is anyone to tell a maker how to represent their film? It is very simple, if you don’t like the trailer, don’t watch the film. In cinema everything is fair game, I’ve been born and raised in the US and I’ve watched R rated movies since i was about 10 or 11, and i turned out perfectly ok. With the content we have in our films, i genuinely don’t see why we have a censor board, we never have nudity, and very rarely use profanity, and our violence is far-fetched too.
I hope this wakes Ms Tagore from her long never-ending sleep. I hope she realises that her actions are far from being realistic and logical. As for the piece, Boss, it’s one of the finest I’ve read from you. So true.. aurat auraton ki sabse badi dushman hoti hai.
mr khalid kudos to you keep it up i agree with all that you say, the other media journalist go ga ga over these blady good for nothing media made stars like kareena kapoor but you have the courage to bash the big stars and honestly too. you write what you feel and i agree with your articles. Yes those lines are insulting to woman even during hey baby i felt insulted many a times by the dialogues in the film. Dont expect big stars to do this. KEEP IT UP YOU ROCK SIR
good that you have noticed and wrote about it.in that sane theatrical promo kareena says…ladkon ka dhyan ek hi cheej par rahta hai.what is that ‘ek hi cheej’ or ‘one thing’?hindi films ar full of this kind of suggestive and sexual dislouges.
Objective of trailers is advertising and objective of advertising is to generate interest from maximum viewers. Movies are allowed to project various characters. A right-winger Om puri in Dev, A drinker in Devdas (or DevD), a thief in Oye Lucky, etc. And in this regard they are allowed to portray mannerisms to bring forth what the characters are all about. Nothing wrong with the line. THe way Khaled makes movies and the way Khaled writes, is derogatory to directors and writers, respectively. So will Khaled stop all that!
Funny enough…that dailogue..they could have used another phrase……yeh India hai baap, censor ho ya media….anyways, it doesnt mean that Akshay thinks of women in that way….why so personal…we cannot pick a line from all the verses and say ‘thats you!!’….
SRK’s role in Darr was of a maniac and the dailogues he mouthed on a married woman were so derogatory…correct?…more than a decade back…it was the character which spoke not SRK, he doesn’t go behind married woman….would he be a star if he did that?
This is more of a time-pass discussion than anything which makes sense, with or without discussions… the King will be the King and the time will come when he has to pass it on to the next….
Would agree with Ratnakar, and partly with Jasjeet and Renish.If a girl says that
“You boys are good for only one thing”
Would we go all ga ga over it? No we wont. Maybe his character is a sexist, narcissist, now if actors can smoke because the character demands so, then why cant actors mouth lines if the character needs to. The fuss is quite weird,you cannot call Akshay or the makers sexist, or ignorant, because they simply are using it for their role. Without seeing the film, we certainly can’t fuss about anything.
Strange its only the men who seem to be ranting against the piece…does that say something?
@ Ratnakar-
Valid point, as they say”right ya wrong kuchch nahi hota, right aadmi ka wrong bhi right ho jata hain”
But i agree with KM(i never thgt, i wud agree with him) that 2 use such lines is like hitting below the belt. Its deroagatery to say the least.U can obvioulsy draw a line,wether the dialougue is necessary in the first place or not. If its not, it can happily be censored/edited.
censor the entire movie and i will be really happy :-)
Let this be called an April Fool joke in advance, it better be.
if it is not, sorry, a frivolous piece of writing. funny to the core.
Coming from a well known film critic, your losing respect for Akshay Kumar because he mouths a line of dialogue written in the script is moderately funny once the effect of the utter ridiculousness of that statement passes over. Remember….he is a fictional character in a fictional movie. Not real. Also, there is this person who writes the movie [you know, the screenwriter] and I’m pretty it’s not Akshay.
Going by your theory, Christian Bale supports vigilante justice, Johnny Depp loves Somali pirates and Robin Williams likes to dress up like a granny. We all know that only the third one is true.
Let’s please get a sense of perspective here. No woman watching the trailer is going to think “Oh my god….I feel so powerless now that Akshay Kumar has said that. I should leave my job and cook some parathas”. In fact, insinuating that a fictional male character in a mainstream Bollywood movie has an adverse effect on women, and how we view them, is incredibly sexist.
what about a woman stripped naked and thrown into a room with a naked man joining her? wasnt that an insult? Where do you draw the line? Let kambakht ishq die out of its own mediocrity, we dont have to analyze its trailer and come up with these childish observations.
@ Shreyansh
Check out Tarantino’s take on Madonna’s Like a Virgin in Reservoir Dogs, compared to that what Akshay said is positively school boyish. So lets edit that.
Lets also delete Pacino’s monologe about women in Scent of a Woman, i find that positively sexist, and it shows females as sex objects.
Boss, if we go on editing every dialogue, because it offends some one, i am doubtful if we will be left with any movies after that. Unless the only kind of movies we wanna see are those which give us bhaashans on dil, pyaar, dosti, ishq, mohabbat.
@ Ratnakar -
Boss u got it all wrong. I am completely against the movies u mentioned in the last movie, but my point is if the so called dialogue in any ways enhances the film, makes it memorable- apllaud it.
Case in point-Scent of Woman, Ram Aur Sham joke in Satya.
There is a difference between being sensous and vulgar.
the line of Akshay reminds me of the potboiler movies of Jitendra in 80’s
Eg:- Jitendra to Jaya Prada” main andar dalta hoon, woh ui ui karti; bolo kya ho raha hain”
JP- tum bade woh hoon
Jitendra- Main Haathon to Choodiyan Pehna raha tha!
I hope the difference is clear!
@roodrow-
No dude thats not an insult- thats a NAKED truth!
inclduing sex and sexual overtones to show reality and using sex to show mindless entertainers is different!
“There is a difference between being sensous and vulgar.”
And how do you define it?
Dude you get 10 people show them a scene, ask them whether its sensous or vulgar, and i bet that you will never have all 10 people saying so.
You dont like Jeetu’s 80’s movies( not that i do either), you have an option dont watch it.
Yaar u might give a 1000 examples but the difference will never be clear, because not every one watches a movie the same way you or me do.
Whenever SRK gives one of his numerous bhaashans on Pyaar, Ishq,Mohabbat, there are many who go Ooh Aah, over it, i just cringe. Now who is right or wrong here? None.
The fact is even if you call the 10 best movie makers in the world, and ask them to define whats sensous or what’s vulgar, you can never get a common answer.
[Editor Note : Cliff, Please try not to be abusive in your comments on a personal basis, your comment has been partially deleted because few lines violated the comment policy of PFC.]
“Women are only good for one thing.” is wrong…
But “Yeh Love Shove kuch nahi hota, sab ladko ko ek hi cheeze mein interest hota hain!” is fine?
Its a movie about a warring ultra feminist and a male chauvinist pig…what else did you think the dialogues would be like?
Firstly, the censor board is a waste of tax payers money.
Secondly, Khalid I think you have completely lost the plot…ur reviews …..!!
@ Ratnakar- The point is not abt coming to a common platform. But when there is a blatant use of sexual overtones and Double Meaning words are used to arouse cheap humor- I and most of the guys who understand cinema would have.
It also depends on viewers taste. For someone a mother breastfeeding her baby may be vulgar, but those same Jitu’s jokes may be “fun”
@Cliff- Bingo Man!
@ Shreyansh
The fact is even if the jokes in Jeetu’s 80’s movies and David Dhawan’s 90’s flicks were vulgar, we really can’t do much on it, except reaching for the remote or avoiding the movie. And if dialogues were to be edited just for vulgarity, well most of the Carry On series, Farrely Brothers flicks, Naked Gun series would have to be snipped drastically.
Personally i hate most of the 80’s Jeetu flicks, but i know many friends of mine who enjoy those movies or at least used to. As i say Andaz Apna Apna.
Wait .. did the US outsource political correctness to India as well? What’s going on?
So Akshay said that line about women, and kareena replied in the same manner – balanced, right?
So tomorrow, if SRK says to sateesh shah or any other fat actor (in a movie of course) ‘tum logo ko khaane ke alaawaa kuch nahi aataa’, will the fat people take offence to that? With the way things are going, I wont be surprised if that happens.
many things said about akshay kumar in past few months…. dunno…. this article really doesnt hold any relevance….
KM’s definitely got a very valid point. The censors are known to have hearing aids (and blinkers) which they switch on and off depending on who is paying (or not paying) for the batteries… Firaaq got away with a U/A despite MC-BC kind of language (no bleeps)… similar cuss words but used innocuously in comparison were bleeped out in Barah Aana (also got U/A)…Ghajini’s gore-fountain got U/A… but Videsh’s one scene of kicks and slaps an ‘A’… there no logic out there…
Psssst… If u can send across an expensive gift to a CB official, he/she will… yes… discard those batteries and don those blinkers during your next film’s censor screening… Not just that, he/she will also play an active part in “convincing” the remaining 4 or 5 members censoring a film – who are are drawn from a pool of 100 ‘learned’ members of society – to follow suit! Upshot: Censors are only good for one thing… making a mess, of course.
What did u think?
Mr. Mohamed,
I saw the trailer and saw nothing wrong in it. what wrong I saw, is in your blog. You have been irresponsible enough to attack people personally rather then their work. How can this trailer be censored? If the character is an MCP then he will mouth dialogues that a MCP will.
Moreover even if your point is taken, people will respond to that and the film wont make profits. Please get out of the habit of making a big thing about a mole hill.
Anyway the personal attack that you have made, doesn’t show you in good light and people loose respect for you for such a thing.
Good job! Apparently, progress of indian cinema is based completely upon censorship. That’s how we are going to keep making good films! Yes, yes.. lets do what khalid says. Let’s make something and then lets censor it just because some people who suppossedly have a stronghold on the concept of morality can justify why it hurts them. Wow..yes yes..this is the new wave of indian cinema.. lets go for it. Lets also do this – lets put up a panel of people who will be called women protectors, then we can have a panel for slumdog protectors, how about a panel for muslim protectors, oh yeah hindu protectors .. basically then lets make a film and ask these panels what they would like to censor. yes lets do that..
People at censorship hardly are aware of anything. Movies they should check are passed, movies that have nothing are banned. I have seen it happening with my own film.
are you serious? what a ridiculous thing to say?? Ok so that line is offensive to women..wow…
Movies show murder, rape, violence, that might be offensive to some people..
Lets ban all these in movies too..lets only have “clean” films like Fiza, Tehzeeb and Silsilay..
Way to go!!
That dialogue is a very natural thing guys say..there is also another dialogue in the promo where Kareena says “Men only want one thing”
Even thats a very typical dialogue women say against men..These are just characters! Since when did we start associating characters with the actors who play them?
“Sab mard ek hi jaise hote hain” is one of the most common bollywood line. But, I haven’t heard of anyone taking exception over it. I guess making fuss over that promo is actually being sexist.
[Editor Note : Ram, objectionable parts of your comments have been deleted. Please try not to be abusive against anyone on personal basis and keep focus on the topic]
Khaled ……….. When you want to take exception to Kareena Kapoor you resort to lines that seek to degrade/ disrespect her sexually/ sexuality. how different are you then?? You could have always said that her choice of roles is poor or she should try roles with more meat in them (no pun intended!). But you in effect say that she is “old”, not capable of competing against younger attractive actresses. You say, and I quote from above:
” … be it a bikinied airhead in Tashan or now a supermodel whose pout is third-rate copy of Urmila Matondkar’s. Sorry babes, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone and Genelia D’Souza have an edge. Tsk. “
I agree the statement is crass and obnoxious but dont we have more than enough censorship already? Its ok not to be “tasteful” sometimes.. just look at American pie and most Seth Rogen movies… they are hilarious but no one gives them one iota of ‘extra importance’ then they deserve. By making such a hue and cry about thsi pathetic trailer, you are just providing free publicity to the Nadiadwalas.
[Editor Note : Azazel, objectionable parts of your comments have been deleted. Please try not to be abusive against anyone on personal basis and keep focus on the topic]
@ Ram: Bull’s eye! ……… . But the funny part is how he is being sexist in the same article which he is supposedly writing to advocate against sexism. ………..!
If we were to take these things seriously, then am sure that on closer observation, we’ll be able to find a dozen such offensive dialogues in Fiza, Tehzeeb and Silsilay too.
Lets just say Nadiadwala takes the same kind of liberty in making films which you do in writing absurd articles.
Ratnakar, Tarantino gaya bhaad mein yaar. I agree with Khalid on the “main” issue.
Khalid’s views on Akshay & Kareena are too much personal and he wanted to vomit somewhere, a very bad move, IMHO. Not that I like Akshay/Kareena.
I do not know where people like Anurag and others are taking our Hindi Film Industry, to. I think it is on the path of some Tarantino’s have made ?
First it is not understood whether Akshyay Kumar said it as an Actor or he wrote the dialogue?
What has Kambaqt Ishq has to do if a theatre plays a A certified trailer before a UA movie ?
Censorship like many other administrative control functions is a farce in our country. We happily see buxom semi-nude women gyrating and exercising pelvic thrust which we call ‘dance’.
The camerawork is mostly addicted to cleavages and belly buttons. Gluttons.
‘Bloody bastard’ and ‘Harami ke Aulaad’ are acceptable movies rated ‘U’. Phew.
Chutiya is still beeped out though it is the most widely used expletives across all social strata.
All I got from this post as you don’t like Kareena’s physique. Eeeek !
Who are we fooling here? Dear?
Cheers!
~uh~
ps: Humour, without exception is at the cost of offending someone. Always.
The question here is: does it make sense to show a line like that in the trailer outside the context of the film and the characters? Shouldn’t censorship on the contents of a film and contents of a trailer have different set of rules?
Nobody is saying that it is Akshay’s or film crew’s personal opinion. I think what Khalid was trying to point out is the fact that Akshay didn’t want to mouth anti-Pakistan line but is ready to mouth a regressive dialogue like this.
The reverse sexist argument doesn’t always make sense. If you have a poor malnourished starving kid and a rich healthy adult would you still say that they need the same amount of food and nutrients? When you are looked down upon for all your life just because of your gender even a small comment hurts. If you have never been treated like that it’s easier to brush off stupid comments.
Finally, all of you who are claiming that movies hardly affect the way things work in real life, I guess you have never been teased by men on streets.
I’m a little slow, what’s an MCP?
Anyway, about the trailer, the lines were fine…pretty ordinary and oft-repeated. What is it that we are worried about exactly?
The only thing I found offensive was the insult to my intelligence…the trailer and this article.
yoohoo for Neeraja !!!
cant forget the umpteen times some pimply fellow has repeated ghise pite dialogues on the street to me.feeling puky even thinking about it.
Egad. Yes, culturally our country has a long way to go in terms of being progressive. Yes, we need to acknowledge that gender discrimination exists (more towards women than men – yes, we go through it too).
But please! To assume that a dialogue from Akshay will be considered sacrosanct by the masses who will now start assuming ‘all women are good only for one thing’ is plain stupid.
Yes, agreed that these sort of movies target the masses and therefore should be more responsible but this is just blowing things out of proportion.
If a girl cycles with a mattress to the middle of a field, spreads the mattress, proceeds to push down a male and performs a sexual act on him – it is considered path-breaking and applauded for relating to the women of today. And an absurd one-liner from an assumably absurd movie is creating issues?
All power to women. They are the superior species (physically, emotionally and intellectually) and I have no qualms in accepting and respecting that. But gosh.. Mahila Mukthi has become fashionable.
Censors are slipping up North, it’s amazing to see that such scenes are kept intact. Don’t expect anything but a U/A of the film since it’s got Sajid’s name attached to the film. Expect another Tashan.
Mr. Mohamed THANK YOU! I don’t think that some males in the audience can understand that even a seemingly innocuous line like that one uttered by Akshay Kumar has a consequence. It always resonates in a woman’s life. I once heard a black dub poet, one who is quite controversial, refer to women as “the largest and most discriminated upon minority in the world”. He was right! Until filmmakers and the public realize that they are putting out there subliminal messages which eve-teasers simply take as a reinforcement of their behavior as “CORRECT”, we might as well still be in the Middle Ages. No wait, it’s more of a neanderthal view…
.
@ Stan and Azad, it’s not about two intelligent and educated men like you, of course you know better! But it’s about those guys in the ghanv who still think that women ARE good for only one thing. In that sense, cinema has a responsibility to instruct. And from the hollering heard in cinemas when the trailer comes on, it’s not exactly doing that…
@Azazel
“To assume that a dialogue from Akshay will be considered sacrosanct by the masses who will now start assuming ‘all women are good only for one thing’ is plain stupid.”
Who said that?
Going by the applause this dialogue received it’s a potential line to be picked up by the eve-teasers. Is this a stupid conclusion?
@Lamb Chops & Chicken Breasts
Wrt your question about ‘MCP’ – it has nothing to do with Mutton Chops. You still interested? :P
@ Neeraja – great comeback! Totally on the mark!!
@Nina & Neeraja
Your apprehension is understandable, but the problem with this article is the personal attacks on the protagonists. If you really are gonna change our creative space because it tittilates a few scumbags that evetease, then our creative media will be stuck in a timewarp
Guttar Guttar from Dalaal
Sarkaoiyon Khatiya from Raja Babu
Rukmani Rukmani from Roja
Choli ke Peeche kya hain from Khalnayak
I can think of so many songs dat were passed by the censor board..
“Women are only good for one thing.”….seriously girls…dats not even a great eveteasing line!!
Stop being overly sensitive, being PC is Passe.
@Cliff
I am going to say this again. Problem is not the film (it’s not even released yet…not gonna watch it anyway), problem is the trailer. I am not pro-censoring. How else are you going to depict a sexist character on screen if you don’t give him such dialogues?
But why is a trailer made? To sell the film to the audience, right? So our makers obviously thought that this line is one of the appealing dialogues of the film. I guess it is safe to assume that?
Is it right to sell your film on the basis of a sexist line in a gender biased society. Is it right to serve oily food to starving jaundiced people?
To tell you the truth, it didn’t bother me so much until I saw the comments on this post. Illogical, totally-missing-the-point comments. It still doesn’t bother me because it is sexist (there are some sexist jokes that I can stand and some that I can’t. This belongs to the former category) it bothers me because of the above reason. How far will you go to sell your product? And all these thoughts are a result of this post and comments
@Nina and Neeraja,
Tell me one thing, have you ever met a single person who started practicsing gandhigiri after having watched LRM. I refuse to buy the idea that movies influence the way you think. What you said about eavteasing is nevertheless true, but movies or no movies, those buggers will always be there to tease you. Taliban banned all sorts of movies in Afganistan. Did it stop rape and eavteasing over there? Did it even help in reducing such crimes? The answer to such problems doesn’t lies in movies.
My only question to Khalid–had it been SRK instead of Ak mouthing that dialogue, would you have objected to it? I doubt. Grow up…
@ Neeraja, again, wonderful words and great delivery!
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@ Cliff “…but the problem with this article is the personal attacks on the protagonists”. Really?! And you call me overly sensitive?? Your response only proves Mr. Mohamed’s point.It’s not about being PC, but about defending a stance and not allowing such a powerful phrase to be the selling point of a film…
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@ Azad, the entertainment industry has a responsibility. Of course, personally I don’t hang out with Neanderthals who get their behavior from films and songs, but teenagers or simpletons DO get their clues on how to behave from the actors – the heroes – they try to emulate.
I mean, after “Tere Naam” I saw a LOT of Salman Khan-type haircuts… Eery isn’t it?! And the point you make was already discussed for rap music and lyrics demeaning women. Ever heard of subliminal messages? It’s when you think you are making your own decision but instead are being brainwashed by hidden words. Words carry a LOT of power.
Hey what about Anurag Kashyap’s DevD and Gulaal. Despite being such a progressive filmmaker, Mahi gill’s character in Gulaal was so offensive to women and Kay Kay Menon’s portrayal of a character that treats her the way he does and his own wife. I heard the reaction of the men in the hall lauding that behaviour. They completely agreed on how a “hero” treats his whore. I felt sad at what Mahi Gill had made the women in the audience feel and also the men for that matter with their big egos flaring up at the thought of showing a over enthusiatic-in-love “randi”, her real place. And what about DevD, The dirty men in the hall were so happy when Paro is desperate to sleep with Dev and especially when he rejects her. These were very dark and touching but the male audience was finding it utterly enjoyable. Is that what Mr. Kashyap intended? I hate all these filmmakers’ stance towards women. After all he just wants to cash in on these male perverts and their horrible tastes. I think Mr. Kashyap himself is scared of women and has a problem in portraying women as good for men. He always portrays women characters that destroy the man. like some strange species that entice, tempt, should be treated as the outsider because if you let them take over, they will always destroy. Thanks a lot for that portrayal Mr.Avant-Garde filmmaker. Besides the point that I really did like DevD and loved Gulaal. But I hate your women characters and I hope Kalki Koechlin and mahi Gill realise what they are actually doing , maybe without intending…?
Nina,
You don’t seem to get my point. When I was a kid and wanted to get a new pair of fancy shoes, I did buy the one SRK wore in DDLJ. That doesn’t mean that it was SRK who made me buy it. I bought it only because I had to buy one and I liked the one srk sported in ddlj. Talking about the hair styles of tere naam, its just that people like them were waiting for a new fancy hair style. In fact, even before tere naam, you would have found those people with some fancy hair style, but you would not have noticed it. But since salman made the hair style of tere naam famous, you would have started noticing it. ditto the case with ghajini’s hair style or in fact any other style that you might have started noticing being copied.
Same applies to person on the street as well who take great pride in teasing women. I dont think the act of akshay kumar will inspire a single person in this whole planet to go out and start eavteasing. his lines might get used. But the people who use this lines are the ones, who have been using similar lines from much before. its just that their lines might change.
We are poles apart in our thinking. I dont believe in any kind of censorship. I dont want others to do the cleaning job for me. If I dont like it, i will reject it. But at the same time I dont start hating people for having liked something which I dont like. I hope you got my point.
Thanks Nina.
I am signing off from this discussion now. It’s endless!
I don’t get it, why do you go personal in all your posts! Can’t you look at anything objectively?
Trying to reason the moral aesthetics of a dumb movie like Kambakth Ishq is dumb in itself. The society reflects in your art, not the other way round. Of course this is not art we are talking about.
Ok fine ,my grouse with this piece of writing is that when you need to show a MCP character in movies,you show this through his disrespectful dialogues against women.A trailer is something that has to show people what they will or what they can expect to see in that movie.Now how do you show the MCP character in the trailer?
do you say “is aadmi ko ladikiyon se izzat nahi hain”(pardon my faulty Hindi)in the trailer.That would be ridiculous ,the only way is to make the guy mouth sexist stuff.So if the males in the cinema hall lap it up big time,is it the trailer that is to blame or our sexist society?
To, nina, neeraja, azad…or whomsoever for that matter
In almost all the posts that I have read here in PFC (or any blog-zone for that matter) seldom have I seen people actually wanting to understand other people’s opinion (yeah they do say that words like “I respect your opinion” but whats new about that …duh!!). I mean a discussion forum is supposed to be a place where discussion should lead to some or a kind of conclusion (not always, but sometimes..or lets say..even one time..huh!!)..But no, people have made “an” opinion about the blog before plummeting out their views and have kinda taken an oath that they won’t defer from it till the post dies…..during this long yet enjoyable journey, they are sure to make their like-opinion mates,,who give them the support that they always needed..(how wonderful!!)..and then the discussion lives bitchy ever after….
Is this trend ever gonna change or what?
Gimme a break!!
Wow.. what a pointless article!
…this article makes me want to revisit a basic question – what is supposed to be the censor baord’s basic responsibility? I never quite did firgure that out in the first place!
@azad
you think you wanted the shoes but you don’t even know that you were made to buy them without being directly asked. read about subliminal messages and hidden persuasion. i forget what the technique is actually called. all movies, stories media information influence allof us in ways you cannot even imagine and comprehend. the colour of what you wear influences your mood, work, outcome. so when a hero mouths a dialogue which may be derogatory to women, it can change your way of thinking about women and the sad part is that you may never know how and whether it happened. thus the censor board. but sadly, even the censor board people are human beings who have limited wisdom and limited cognition. thus, we are doomed. but please try to be more aware of things youmay not know about. everything is not black and white, look for the greys…thanks
If you ask me, trailers should be more strictly censored but films should be left alone. Audience should know what level of sex and violence the film contains, that’s it. No need of giving cuts and blips. Ratings should be akin to USA system. U, 13+, PG, 18+ etc.
Now you’re acting like a cry baby, a la rakhi sawant…craving for attention..dude get a life ..to each his own.
A completely pointless article. The sole purpose of the article seems to passing snide remarks about people.
Grow up man!!!
Hi,
Thanks to Mr Khalid Mohamed for publishing this post! It is now fashionable for the film industry to degrade women. Hit films and hit actors openly call women, especially their girlfriends `item’ onscreen.
I still remember the song `tu cheez badi hai mast mast’ which ran into controversy. We seem to have gone backwards from there. At that time, at least this topic was debated upon; now it’s quietly tolerated.
@ those who feel Akshay Kumar’s personal views have nothing to do with this kind of dialogue. Not true! He could have politely turned down this dialogue, saying it’s disrespectful to women! If he can refuse to mouth an anti-pakistan dialogue, why not this????
@those who are saying things like `so what, even men are discriminated against!’ You haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about!!!! just ask your sister or girlfreind what they have to undergo EACH time they board a train or sit in a bus, or just travel outside. Every man thinks it’s ok to stare, some whistle, some sing songs just as you cross them. It could drive a person insane with anger. In any case, those supporting this dialogue need a reality check. They may think they’re with-it and modern, but they’re the biggest, the worst, and the most dangerous of male chauvinists. Because they themselves won’t admit that they are so. Kudos to Mr Khalid Mohamed and a big thanks from all liberal-minded men and women.
It’s great that Mr Khalid Mohamed has brought this issue to the fore. Mr Mohamed has been writing about the way the film industry unfairly portrays women, since a long time. It’s rather ungrateful of the industry, as women form a huge part of the film audience. It’s about time people who are opposed to such chauvinistic portrayal take a stand.
Khalid,
OMG!!! You are supposed to have a subject for an article. Your articles usually do. A trailer? A censored trailer of a hindi film? A dialogue that smells of male chauvinism? And media thinks this is bad?
What if tomorrow AK or one of the new talented directors make a film about male chauvinism? You guys are likely to say that a new age of realisitc cinema and dialogues have appeared.
Everywhere in this country men commenting like this are aplenty (I have a researcher-in-MNC, high-on-intellect post-grad-from-IISC friend who once told me that it was his belief that very few women had good mathematical aptitude). Should we bring out a morcha to thrash people like that? So if a film (and trailer for god’s sake) has a dialogue you do not like, do not see them.
Few years ago, there was a film called Masti which has enormous double-meaning dialogues through out the film. Everybody including teen-agers saw three upper middle class men opinionating derogatory thoughts about their wives in double meaning dialogues. I did not hear a word about that in the media. I do not think there should be any.
So what is so special about Kambakht Ishq trailer then? Or is it a publicity ploy? Or are such realistic dialogues supposed to come from films directed by the so-called “new age” directors?
PFC was supposed to be a very open forum about cinema. People who are passionate about various performing arts tend to be lot open minded and does not view any kind of censorship in favorable light. This particular article and related comments proved such assumptions wrong.