After initially saying in April that the government had no data on the censor’s cuts applied to films before they were released, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting sent a clarification to Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas that raised further questions.
In April, Dr. Brittas had asked the I&B Ministry for data on how many cuts were applied to films by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in the last five years. “Data for the number of cuts and changes suggested during the film examination are not separately maintained,” the Ministry said.
However, the cut lists for all films certified from 2018 onwards are not only maintained by the CBFC, they are maintained in a digitised format that is indirectly accessible on a website run by the censor board. In February, The Hindu reported on how some of these cut lists showed an increasing politicisation of film censorship, with mentions of the Prime Minister and other politicians being removed from several films.
