Anurag Kashyap reveals explaining this C word to CBFC: 'If you Google it, it means stupid and bewakoof…'

Anurag Kashyap has consistently clashed with India's censor board. His debut film, Paanch (2003), faced objections over explicit content, and despite clearance, it wasn't released theatrically. His subsequent films, like Black Friday and Bombay Velvet, also encountered similar issues with the CBFC.

Anurag Kashyap recently spoke out about the controversy surrounding Janaki vs State of Kerala, where the censor board demanded changes to the title and a character's name due to religious sensitivities. This incident echoes his own past experiences with the CBFC, where his films faced similar scrutiny and censorship issues.

Speaking to The Juggernaut, he said, “If, in your writing, your characters can’t be named after any of the characters that have been part of mythology… It’s very strange. You have to look for it. They can’t be named after living characters, too. What is left there? You should call your characters XYZ? 1234? ABC? You can’t have surnames, nor characters with greyness or negative shades and blackness in them. They will have to be white. Lots of films are not coming out when they address these issues."

Anurag Kashyap believes that films intended to teach moral lessons don't necessarily bring about societal change. Instead, he emphasizes the importance of honest storytelling, which allows people to confront their own flaws, prejudices, and biases. He laments that such authentic portrayals are no longer possible because audiences often refuse to confront uncomfortable truths, leading to a sanitized version of cinema and culture.

Anurag Kashyap highlighted a significant issue with the censor board: a language barrier. He claimed that many board members, as well as those who object to certain content, often don't fully comprehend Hindi, leading to misguided criticisms and censorship decisions.

Referring to a specific slang, he explained, “A very, very big example of this is, for example, from my very first film that I wrote, Satya, the word in contention is a word called ch***ya. The word, in dictionary, in language, if you Google it, it will say it means stupid and bewakoof. It doesn’t mean anything else. The problem is the censor board is in Maharashtra. It’s not the Hindi-speaking people who sit there. It’s the people who have made a meaning out of it, its pronunciation, of how it sounds, of it. They don’t understand the meaning of it, stupid and bewakoof, moorkh. I literally had to carry a Hindi shabdkosh (dictionary) with me. Now, they don’t even allow you to take your phone inside."