An FIR has been reportedly filed against filmmaker Rahat Kazmi after he was caught screening an uncensored version of his film Mantostaan on Thursday at a theatre in Mumbai. The film is a compilation of four of Saadat Hasan Manto’s short stories.
Speaking to DNA India, Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani confirmed that an FIR has been lodged against the filmmaker and his team. “We’ve received information that filmmaker Rahat Kazmi held a screening on Thursday, April 20, of his new film, Mantostaan without a censor certificate. This is completely illegal,” he said.
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According to Nihalani, Kazmi had submitted the film for censor certification, but the board hadn’t issued one yet. “You can’t even screen a 10-second film without a censor certificate, let alone a full length feature film,” he declared.
The FIR has been lodged against Kazmi, and Real Image, the content provider who provided the screening to the theatre and also the multiplex, where the screening was held.
The world premier of Mantostaan took place at Marché du Film – Festival de Cannes, and it was also screened at the San Francisco International Film Festival, London, Asian Film Festival and the Melbourne Film Festival in 2016.
The film stars Sonal Sehgal, Shoib Nikash Shah, Raghubir Yadav, Virendra Saxena, Raina Basnet, Sakhi Bhat, Tariq Khan and Rahat Kazmi.
Watch the trailer here:
Pic: Facebook