Censorship in India needs to be holistic: Imtiaz Ali

Filmmaker Imtiaz Ali believes censorship in India needs to be holistic and should also consider restrictions on other mediums of communication via which viewers can access the censored content.

Responding to a poser from a young audience member -- on whether India's censorship policy takes away the audience's liberty to choose the movie they want to watch -- at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet here on Friday, the "Tamasha" maker batted for a holistic point of view rather than just adhering to strict points.

"I feel the censorship of movies should also look at the censorship of various other mediums of communication that the audience is used to.

"So if there is free flowing information, let's say on Torrents, on the internet and I can get to see anything, then to be stopped from watching it in a movie will discourage me from going and watching that movie," Ali replied.

"... so it has to be more holistic. You can't be very clerical about, it you need to have a motive rather than have certain very strict points," he added.

The audience member referred to the cuts in Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" as "severe". He said the film had been reduced to a point where it doesn't look like a typical Tarantino movie.