Subtitles row: To tamper or not, wonder Kolkata film labs

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Film laboratories and producers in Kolkata are a worried lot as the censorship controversy around subtitling of Bengali movies continues. With the Central Board of Film Censorship (CBFC) refusing to issue any certificates stating that the films have subtitles, film makers in Kolkata now want the subtitles to be removed before the films’ release dates.

A recent notice by CBFC, asking to make declaration of subtitles an essential part of film certification, has not got a warm welcome from the Bengali film industry. Filmmakers and lab owners feel that the CBFC should make the new directive clear as to how the subtitles are to be used on video and how the files should be sent.

As per a report in The Times of India, for the film labs, this is no less than a dilemma as tampering with certified prints means making them more prone to illegal acts like piracy. In the current scenario, there are many films lined up for release, and the film labs are now in the frenzy, as the producers are asking them to get rid of the subtitles before the release.
Director Abhishek Saha’s film ‘Uronchondi’ is one of the victims in this situation. Producer Prosenjit Chatterjee said, “Even if I want to release the film without subtitles, the process isn’t easy.” He is pointing out that removing the subtitles after getting a version certified by the CBFC, essentially means tampering with the film’s censored version. Associate producer of ‘Uronchondi’ Srijoni Roy said that they secured the censor certificate on July 17. He says that “no fault of ours, we are now having to ask film labs to remove the subtitles.” This can lead to “loss of business, plus the risk of other issues” like film leak and piracy.

Reacting to the whole situation, Harcharan Singh, director of Edit FX studios specialising in post-production said, “As a lab, we can do what the producers want us to.” However some film lab owners are not convinced and think that if the film has been censored with subtitles, the final release should also have it.

Suman Maitra’s ‘71 Broken Lines’ is at the receiving end of this CBFC decision, as he had applied for certification with subtitles. He said, “But I had to accept the censor certificate that doesn’t mention that it is a subtitled print since I have to submit it for Indian Panorama. If I ask the lab to delete the subtitles for the film’s commercial release, it will be a violation of law.”

Sometimes, labs tampering with subtitles can also lead to the film makers being accused of changing shots. “That’s serious violation of law. In absence of a clear directive, we will take an undertaking from the producer that if there is a legal hassle we will not be blamed for it,” said Soumya Mukhopadhyay, director of Cherry Pix.