The Censor Board has been embroiled in controversy recently after implementing the 'Film Censorship Procedures, 2082', which includes rules requiring censoring even films that go to festivals.

Many filmmakers have raised questions saying that the procedure has become control-oriented, while some have demanded that the Censor Board itself be abolished.

Meanwhile, 9 organizations related to the film have submitted a request to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology demanding amendments. The Ministry of Communications had brought this procedure to be implemented from Poush 2. In which organizations related to the film had demanded amendments on Poush 11. In this background, Reena Moktan had a brief conversation with Minister of Communications Jagdish Kharel:

The procedure has become very controversial, will it be amended?

It will be amended. In the context of the Censor Board, there were 20 complications earlier. We have reduced those complications to 10. This means that 100 percent complications were yesterday, but now we have reduced them to 50 percent. The remaining 50 percent complications, which the filmmakers have felt, are all in the act, so the Council of Ministers and the Minister could not go against it. Therefore, we have made the 50 percent of the difficult aspects that were uncomfortable for the filmmakers easier.

Meanwhile, filmmakers expressed dissatisfaction saying that some rules are still not suitable. Again, we have put a team of filmmakers and the ministry to discuss each section and put them in the procedure that is suitable for them. Filmmakers are now 100 percent happy with the procedure related to censorship. We have finalized everything in the presence of Nischal Basnet, Manoj Pandit, Naveen Subba, Rabindra Singh Baniya and others. They are happy with the changes that have been made in the current system.

In the film bill, we will now call the Censor Board ‘certification’. We will not use the word ‘censor’, instead we will put certification. Through the act to be made now, we are making the Censor Board very flexible, very loose, very easy and filmmaker-friendly. This procedure will be finalized after the amendment with the consent of the filmmakers. Now they will not be sad when it is finalized.

Will the demand of filmmakers that instead of cutting the film, a ‘certification letter’ should be given under the grading system be fulfilled?
Now the final procedure will be as per that.

If there are only employees in the Censor Board, what happened to the demand that experts who understand films should be there?
That will also be addressed. Arrangements will be made in the procedure to bring in good writers, directors, artists, technicians and qualified people from the field of film journalism.

While the discussion on the bill is going on, many filmmakers have demanded that the film be kept under the Ministry of Culture. Do you mean under the Ministry of Communications?
More than 95 percent of filmmakers have said that it should be kept under the Ministry of Communications. Because the script, camera, production, technology used and exhibition process of the film are all related to communication. Therefore, naturally the film falls under the Ministry of Communications. That claim remains.

The autonomy of the Development Board is another big demand of the filmmakers. The bill seems to be trying to tighten the board even more. How can it be made autonomous?
After I become a minister, rest assured, the Development Board will become autonomous. The chairman is brought in through open competition, the interview is conducted by the Public Service Commission. There should be a person who understands films. The term is four years instead of two years and full financial and administrative authority is given. This was not in the previous draft bill. We, on behalf of the government, have paved the way for making the board autonomous by amending it. The current clause-wise discussion has also clarified the basis of the board's work, duties and autonomy.