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The Tightrope of Film Censorship

Romessa Nadeem
Nov 17, 2017
2 min read

Do we always get to see the whole film in theatres? Or are some scenes cut out on purpose?

The Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC) is responsible for reviewing films before their exhibition and permitting their presentation in cinemas. While the CBFC does not practice a formal rating system (i.e. PG 13, NC-17, R rated) international films are assigned such ratings upon release.

However, DHA’s JFC cinema’s manager, Ahsan Khan, admits having to manually cut certain scenes from movies during screenings for children and sometimes even for general audiences. Otherwise parents or guardians are advised against watching them with children.

“If a movie is for adults only, (parents) should be a bit careful,” he contends.

He admits to facing complaints from viewers about some scenes that appeared to have been cut from the film. However, most of the time, the scenes had been cut prior by the censor board.

Scenes involving kissing were cut out from popular feature films like The Fate of the Furious and Beauty and the Beast manually.

A customer at the cinema, Shahana Maryam Ahmed said, “There was a scene that had been clearly cut. I was watching an R rated horror film and there were kids there so maybe that’s why. But it was still very annoying.”

Ms Ahmed believes that children should not be allowed to view such graphic content in the first place. “They should show the whole movie but only for (mature audiences.)”

Another customer at the club’s theatre, Ayisha Ilyas, said, “I really don’t like watching any graphic scenes. And if it doesn’t affect the plot, I’m okay with it.”

Conversely, he also faces complaints from disgruntled parents who bring children with them for movies for mature audiences. “On the ticket, box office, on Facebook we mention that it’s Above 18. If someone comes in with children, we stop them. We are legally not allowed,” Mr Khan said.

The line between whether to present the approved version of the film or intervene is a thin one. “The version which we get is already edited. If it’s not something too big, we do it if it’s required.”