The Indian American filmmaker hits out against India’s Central Board of Film Certification for its refusal certify his film Ka Bodyscapes for public screening.
India’s Central Board of Film Certification last week, once again, refused to certify Indian American director Jayan Cherian’s movie Ka Bodyscapes for public screening. The board, popularly known as the censor board, said “the subject of gay and homosexual relationship” and the portrayal of “the Hindu religion in a derogatory manner by showing Lord Hanuman ‘in poor light as gay’” as the reason for its decision.
In the Malayalam film, Cherian depicts the struggle of three young people — Haris, a gay painter, Vishnu, a rural kabadi player, and their activist friend Sia — to find space and happiness.
Ka Bodyscape is Cherian’s second Malayalam feature after Papilio Buddha, which was released in 2013. In an exclusive interview with The American Bazaar, Cherian speaks about his next move, sexuality in Indian public space, and the “Talibanization” of Indian culture, among other issues. Here are edited excerpts:
What is your reaction to the censor board move to refuse certification for Ka Bodyscapes?
We were already in the court. We have shown the movie before the censor board three times; in Trivandrum, Chennai and Mumbai. The court has already ruled that the censor board doesn’t have the right to ban a film, all they can do is to certify it, and if they find anything objectionable, they can suggest a blur, or anything of that sort. This has been clearly stated by the court order. With the current refusal to certify Ka Bodyscapes, it makes me feel that the censor board has no respect for the court order, or the law. This is a clear case of contempt of court. So, we are going to move forward with the case.
Where you surprised with the response?
The film has already been watched by several people. Comparing it with other films that I have made, it is a soft film. It doesn’t have any hardcore [sexual] scenes. Ka Bodyscapes is a film about a gay painter and his studio full of thick paintings, especially a painter who is focused on the male body. The paintings are a replica of classic paintings from the history of art. It is as if you have a piece of Picasso in your wall and some people are asking you to dress up the masterpiece, which is totally absurd. I never thought that this movie will be looked at with such a moronic stand.
What is your next move?
The option to appeal before the division bench of the High Court has expired. So we will have to move to the Supreme Court of India. But since High Court has pronounced a judgement, they have some responsibility. So, I have to wait for their response. If the High Court asks me to go to the Supreme Court, yes I will go to the Supreme Court.
Do you think if there was non-BJP government — not the BJP-appointed officials of the censor board, the movie might have had a different fate?
Yes of course. Not only BJP, our country is becoming more authoritarian and conservative, and there is a surge of the right wing all over the world from America to Latin America to Europe. Everywhere we see such right-wing movements. Here in India, the saffron cadre is [imposing their will] on the culture, and it is a kind of Talibanization. In the past, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had officials, who were at least related to films but, Panhalaj Nahlani is just a foot solder of the BJP. The same happened with the appointments at Film and Television Institute of India.
Interestingly, the CBFC has no right to outrightly ban a film, or refuse it citing moral grounds. According to the Indian Cinematography Act, it is just a certification board and they only have to certify a movie. Considering the age appropriation, they can certify a movie UA, A, or something else. But they have no right on deciding what kind of a movie an Indian adult should watch. The Indian Cinematography Act itself is a colonial act that was used in the pre-independent India to identify the dissent and anticolonial movement in visual narrative. The first movie to be banned in India was in 1921, named Bhakta Vidur, citing that the character who played the lead role had resemblance to Gandhi. Then in 1939, in Tamil, there was a movie named Thyagabhoomi, which was connected to the independence movement. The same colonial legacy has passed on to the independent India in the form of the India Cinematography Act of 1952. Unfortunately, the Indian film fraternity never came together and didn’t do any campaign to get rid of this.
You had issues with your debut feature, Papilio Budhha, as well. How has it resolved?
Yes. Then the congress government was in power, and Leela Samson was heading the CBFC. I had a similar confrontation, but the movie finally got certified. I went to the tribunal and resolved the issue within the CBFC itself. But, in this case, I was forced to go to the court. Last time the board had suggested a few cuts, but this time these people are not suggesting anything and have outrightly banned.
The real reason behind the current refusal is basically “Ghar Wapsi,” not homosexuality, or nudity. There is no nudity in this movie. The only nudity there in the movie is in the paintings on the wall.
It’s been a real struggle for you with the two movies. Will this experience make you rethink about making movies for the Indian public?
First I have to get over this. If I go like this, I doubt I can survive! But since I’m coming from India and my identity is Indian and my narratives have always been from my situations, I’m not going to stop.
I’m not doing any commercial movies, what I do are movies that matter to me. So, I have to continue to do movies and that is what I know as a filmmaker. I have no other choice.
I think when more Indian filmmakers come up and make movies that push the envelope, this system is going to be dead. See what happened to [noted academic M.M.] Kalburgi, who was a voice of dissent. [The former vice chancellor of Kannada University was shot dead in August 2015.] What is happening now in India is terrible.
Do you think India is not ready for the kind of social criticism that you are making?
No. The Indian society was ready for the transformation before ages. Just look at the heritage of Indian art. We have explicit sculptures and paintings that are full of sexual vibrancy. Our culture almost transgresses the so-called western binary ideas of sexuality. Our god Shiva is a half male and half female, and we are worshiping him in the form of penis. Even during the last Shivarathri, we saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiling a 112-foot erotic, masculine Shiva statue in Coimbatore. We are erecting Shiva lingas all across the country. If you go to any temple, or museum of ancient Indian art, you will find explicit stuff than any of the pornography available now. So why this double standard? I think we got stuck in the colonial, Victorian morality. Now, the BJP and all the Hindutva rightwing are propagating a pseudo culture, which is not the Indian culture. It is just the old British colonial prudishness.
In Malayalam, if we look at great literatures like the Poora Prabhandam. It has depiction of orgies in a very patriarchal way, and you can see the male desires, which was part of our culture. Now it has been hijacked by the colonial values. I’m not blaming everything on the British people.
What is your take on the attitude on Indian society on homosexuality and lesbianism?
For a majority of Indians, sexuality means heterosexuality. In the case of Ka Bodyscapes, I’m being accused for glorifying and propagating homosexuality. Actually, homosexuality is nothing to be propagated, it is a case of sexual orientation which cannot be changed. Actually, people don’t have a clear understanding about human desire and sexuality. They are still thinking in line with the British colonial moral code. Unfortunately, we are stuck there. All the European societies have gone far ahead and are propagating women’s rights and equal rights and have accepted homosexuality as a very normal thing.
Who are the people who support you in these difficult times?
The film was made with the support of many homosexual groups in India, especially in Kerala, and many volunteers have helped.
Did you get any support from the Indian or Malayalam film industry in your fight?
The mainstream film industry doesn’t care, as it is a star-centric industry and they have no interest in art films like Ka Bodyscapes. They also don’t want this specification to be compromised in any way, as it could affect their money-making intentions. Film, as a fine art, has always been called parallel filmmaking in India, as it dealt with unsettled issues. But, unfortunately, our government policies have become conservative and basically killing the theme, not only in cinema, in art and literature, as well, which will throw us into the dark ages.
That they are also playing the religious card is kind of so unfortunate. They make decisions based on the Muslim and Hindu vote bank. The kind of hypocrisy they have should be ridiculed. If two people are standing and kissing, they can’t tolerate but any 3- or 4-year-old kid now has a smartphone which makes porn easily accessible. I don’t understand what they are trying to protect. It has become okay for people to see violence in the movie and they raise eyebrows, when it comes to two people kissing. This is all because we are stuck in the 18-century colonial mindset, which unfortunately is not ours. The western civilization changed long back, but 70 years after the independence the Indian outlook has not changed and we are kind of stuck there in terms of sexuality, the civil code and everything.
Do you think there is a lack of discussion when it comes to homosexuality in India?
Not only homosexuality, sexuality has itself become a taboo in India. I don’t know how such a scenario emerged. We were once people who celebrated sex, and in the Hindu tradition, sexual act is a kind of prayer. It was common in tantric and Buddhist worship. It has never been a taboo, never been an issue in India. Even the westerners were influenced by this very tradition of sexual vibrancy of India, and as a result of this, there were movements like the Hippy movement that was inspired from India. Unfortunately, now we have become westernized but we call ourselves anti-western.