Honey Trehan slams CBFC’s 5 new directives as ‘cowardice’

Filmmaker Honey Trehan has hit out at the Central Board of Film Certification after its newly reconstituted board issued its first advisory, saying the move reflects ‘cowardice and dictatorship’ rather than a democratic approach to free speech.

The reaction is not abstract. It arrives four months after Trehan’s period crime drama Satluj, starring Diljit Dosanjh, was pulled from ZEE5 within days of its July release.

What the new advisory says

Issued on Monday, the five directives are the first from the CBFC board chaired by former Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati. The board, revamped after a nine-year gap, includes actors Preity Zinta, Pankaj Tripathi, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Rupali Ganguly, Manoj Joshi, Pallavi Joshi and Suniel Shetty, along with filmmaker Priyadarshan and music composer Ricky Kej.

Among the directives, the CBFC has made clear:

• Films submitted for certification must be complete.
• Announced release dates and promotional titles will not be treated as binding.
• Film titles remain subject to scrutiny and can be reviewed or modified by the examining or revising committee.

Why Satluj makes this personal

Trehan’s latest comments revive the row around Satluj, originally titled Punjab ’95. The film is based on the life of Sikh human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra and stars Diljit Dosanjh. It spent years waiting for CBFC certification before releasing on ZEE5 in July under the Satluj title, only to be taken down within a couple of days.

Before the premiere, Dosanjh had publicly wondered how long the film would stay on the platform. That worry proved well founded. The Centre reportedly raised national security concerns, while the makers maintained those were not the reasons behind the release trouble.

A wider certification battle

The advisory lands at a moment when certification is already in the courts. The Delhi High Court has issued notices to the Centre, the CBFC and Zee Studios over Sunny Deol’s upcoming crime thriller Suryaa: Ant Se Aarambh Tak. Four doctors have objected to the teaser, arguing that it portrays private-hospital doctors as corrupt and could encourage violence against healthcare workers. No interim order has been passed, and the next hearing is set for November 16, four days before the film’s planned November 20 release.

For filmmakers and fans, the message from the advisory is practical: the commercial certainty around dates and titles has shrunk. A film can be marketed under one title, and the CBFC can still decide another. A date can be announced, but that does not bind the certification process. After the Satluj experience, many in the industry will read that as a warning to keep plans flexible.

Source: India Today