Drishtipat Blog

Some of you know that a young director called Ahiduzzaman Diamond recently did a film on Ila Mitra. For variour reason, the censor board in Bangladesh is refusing to give it permission to show. The latest on this is that the government has imposed a strict pre-condition for its release.

Film Censor Board said that Ila Mitro was a member of West Bengal Parliament and she was an Indian citizen. So if any producer wants to make any films upon her life he must have to take permission from Indian Government. Otherwise it may hamper for the bilateral relation between the two countries.

A film made outside India on a historical figure like Ila Mitra — why would it require Indian government’s permission?

I asked actress and Rajyashobha MP Shabana Azmi whether any such law exists in India. She said that permissions are required for films that are made in India and full script has to be sent to the external affairs ministry. However, India does not and can not put in any restriction on films made outside India.

This make perfect sense. It doesn’t take a Sharlock Holmes to figure out that these are just some very lame excuses by our government to delay this release. Had this film be on the life of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, there would not be much of a delay in giving it a certificate.

Take a look at this New Age Report where the board member has talked about not our good relations with India but with Pakistan.

Some of the members on the Board reportedly feels that the showing of the framed photograph of Mr M A Jinnah and the tortures carried on underneath might harm our good relations with Pakistan. This at best can be called a misapprehension.

Can you imagine the power of this movie that is putting both our relationship with India and Pakistan in jeopardy? However, it is not hard to imagine the agony of a young, aspiring director’s dreams getting shattered in such idiotic political tangle. Here is a bit of interview on the director after the film was completed