New Delhi, April 15: The government is planning a nationwide survey to gauge public perceptions about contemporary cinema and how films impact lives, before pressing ahead with reforms to redefine what sources said had come to be viewed as a "scissor-happy" agency.
Officials said the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and the information and broadcasting ministry were finalising the format for the first such survey that would be outsourced to a market research firm.
The government plans to introduce the cinematographic bill in Parliament later this year to amend the existing 1952 act that now governs censorship.
The survey plan comes at a time the censor board has had to deal with a lot of unwelcome publicity following some decisions by its newly appointed chief Pahlaj Nihalani, including a now-withdrawn list of banned cuss words.
Nihalanihad irked the film fraternity for ordering cuts in actress Anushka Sharma's maiden production venture, NH10.
At a meeting in Mumbai last month with junior I&B minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, some CBFC members, too, had complained against Nihalani, saying his arbitrary decisions were turning the entire industry against the board.
A senior official in the film section of the I&B ministry said the plan to conduct the survey took shape at that meeting. "We are finalising the scope and nitty-gritty of the survey - what all can be asked from people, what should be the sample size," CBFC chief executive officer Shravan Kumar told The Telegraph. "A firm will be hired to conduct this detailed all-India survey."
Sources said senior officials were working on possible questions for the survey, which would also cover films made abroad.
"This feedback from common people about films made in India and abroad will be important to make the censor board filmmaker-friendly, transparent, progressive and in tune with the times," said Chandraprakash Dwiwedi, a censor board member who was present at the Mumbai meeting.
"While filmmakers are vocal about censorship issues, we thought it is also important to know what people think about the role of films and censorship issues in India."
The UPA government had in 2013 set up a panel chaired by Mukul Mudgal, former chief justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, to propose changes in the 1952 Cinematographic Act.
The panel, which included prominent personalities from the world of entertainment such as Sharmila Tagore and Javed Akhtar, had proposed adding two new film categories - 12-plus and 15-plus - to the existing ones: "U" (for universal viewing); "A" (for viewing by those above 18); "UA" (which children can view under parental or adult supervision), and "S" (for a specialised audience, such as doctors).
It had also suggested that state governments shouldn't have the right to stop a film from being screened once the censor board has cleared it.
"We want to make it only a film-rating agency and change the perception of the CBFC being a scissor-happy agency," said a source close to minister Rathore.
