Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, one of the members of the Shyam Benegal committee that is looking into the contentious issue of censorship in films, has said that India needs more people’s theatres and affordable cinema halls in order to genuinely curb piracy. According to him, until there is a revolution in this arena, all the work that filmmakers put in will have very little meaning.
Rakeysh, who was delivering the opening address at the FICCI Frames 2017 in Mumbai, said, “I agree we need to make money and content but at what cost? I think we are failing the nation in taking the content to the people of the country. Until we start the revolution, which is people’s theatre; apart from this all we create or do has a very little meaning.”
Mehra also said that freedom of expression will be preserved.
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Clarifying an earlier comment, in which he said that piracy was good. Mehra said, “Why did I say that, I was a bit angry with myself but the moment of self realization sat in that with piracy the people of this country are getting to see what they deserve, any which way. The point I am trying to make with this reverse logic, we need to have cultural centres for the people of this country. Where I think I can take my mother, sister and my wife, at a reasonable cost in a healthy and clean environment.”
The Shyam Benegal committee was constituted to look into the Cinematograph Act and especially the role and relevance of censorship and the Censor Board. It is comprised Shyam Benegal, Kamal Hassan, Ms Bhawana Somaaya, Ms Nina Lath Gupta, MD of the NFDC, Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra, Piyush Pandey, Goutam Ghose, and K. Sanjay Murthy.
Feature Image Courtesy: Tellychakkar.com