A section of the industry thinks Bhobishyoter Bhoot director Anik Dutta’s known adverse view of the current dispensation in Bengal is the real reason why this film was pulled down from the theatres. Here are the details.
‘Ghosts of the future’ were all over the streets of Kolkata. They were dancing, singing but definitely not biting. Director of Anik Dutta's new set of ghosts were ready to hit the theaters of Kolkata. Certainly, it did. But suddenly they poofed.
Maybe now you get that here we're talking about the film called Bhobishyoter Bhoot directed by Anik Dutta. This movie is full of satire. The director has used humour to criticise particularly contemporary politics and other topical issues. He has attacked the raj of the party ruling Bengal using words, dialogues and, of course, dark humour.
The film got banned after a couple of shows. Though it was cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification. That is why this Sunday, a rally of artistes took over the streets, where junior artistes were wearing the costumes of ghosts. A forum of artists questioned, “Why was our film banned?” through their songs. But why did this film get banned?
This is a real trick question. Actually, Dutta attacked Mamata Banerjee's government directly. Where he used expressions like “ma-mati-mafia-r netri” (woman leader of mother, land and mafia) and “chinnamul” (a spoof on Trinamool Congress meaning “uprooted” whereas “trinamool” means “grassroots”) to attack her. And this concerned Mamata Banerjee's government. That's is why they censored this movie personally.
Soumitra Chatterjee, Aparna Sen, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Barun Chanda, Sujoy Prasad, Debolina Dutta, Upal Sengupta, Debojyoti Misra, Mandakranta Sen and many other celebrities took part in the Sunday rally. Sen said, “I was on the streets when Pashu Khamar got banned. Again, I'm here when Anik's Bhobishyoter Bhoot got banned. Creativity should be free. Neither fascism cannot take over the state.”
Chatterjee asked the remaining industry (that is inclined in favour of the TMC), 'Why is the other part of the industry silent? Why are they being blind, dumb and deaf? This could happen to them too.”
Chanda briefed the crowd on a few sub-plots of the movie and said, “We should fight for our rights. Everyone should follow law and order. The team of this movie should appeal and we will create public awareness. The government has to answer why this film got banned and who banned it. If you're mature enough, you will take criticism in a very good way. If there was no cartoon of Jawaharlal Nehru in the newspaper, he used to call cartoonists and ask them he was missing.”
Dutta said, “Producers have already taken some legal actions.”
In this rally, people used 'chupburi’ (silent hag), 'jujuburi’ (woman ghost) to allude to the chief minister of Bengal.
Sunday's rally started from Dakshinapan (Dhakuria) and ended at Taltala ground, where Dutta said, “They want us to beg and plead. We're not going to do that.”
The rally had an innovative pattern. Some were singing and dancing, a few were using slogans to bash the CM. They used colours, satire and other forms of creativity in this rally.
Kolkata’s students (From different universities) took part in this rally too. On March 14, another rally will take place at Kalyani and a third will be held in Howrah on March 17.
On the other hand, from Sunday onwards, pirated DVDs of this movie hit the market, which is a great loss of the producers. Earlier, at the Kolkata Film Festival 2019 which was organised at the Nandan West Bengal Film Centre, Dutta asked the gathering why Banerjee's face is seen with all the ageless directors in posters of the event. This question discomfited everyone.
A section of artistes thinks Dutta’s known adverse view of the current dispensation in Bengal is the real reason why this film got banned.
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