Kalki’s thumbs down to censorship

New Delhi: The image of Censor Board has been tarnished in recent times, all thanks to CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani‘s set of guidelines on abuses and cuss words. And when a film with scenes of lesbian love making came up, it was no surprise that the Censor Board did not take it well.  

Later, after facing objection regarding  a 12-second kissing scene from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in the first screening, Kalki Koechlin’s ‘Margarita With A Straw’ came out with a clean chit.

The actress, who faced all kind of ups and downs in the recent days, thinks that no democracy in its right mind deserves a censor board, forget the kind that can’t do without its snip-and-chop routine.

The 31-year-old actress who known for her non-conformist roles that are often bold and wild, said, “Censorship is basically the government controlling the people, while in a democracy it should be the people controlling the government.”

According the source, the Kalki says that the premise on which the Censor Board is built is in  itself wrong, and that it does little to acknowledge audiences as adults with freedom of choice.

“The idea of a censor board itself is wrong. The Censor Board was formed in 1951, we’ve come a long way since then. Once you give a film an ‘A’ certificate, you don’t need to censor it. It is an adult’s choice to watch it or not. If you’re censoring things for adults, when are we going to become adults?” she added.

However, the actress defends, “I don’t feel that way. Of course it was dramatic, but in real life too, you don’t get to choose your problems. Sometimes, all of them come together. Everything happens at once. I’ve had personal experiences where a family member was suffering from cancer and at the same time, I was getting a divorce and not getting any work professionally.”

“Problems don’t come in neat little boxes. The film is about someone who has been handed lemons and makes a margarita instead of getting bitter about it.” the actress added.