Miscellaneous - This Day That Age   

dated September 11, 1954: Film on Bhagat Singh

The Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Dr. B.V. Keskar, told the Rajya Sabha on September 10 that while the Government had every sympathy for the representations received against the exhibition of the film on the life of Sardar Bhagat Singh, they had no constitutional powers to intervene in the matter. Replying to Mr. P. Sundarayya, Dr. Keskar said that even before the film was produced, the Government had received representations from the Punjab Congress Committee and the editorial board of the Bhagat Singh Commemoration Volume. These were brought to the notice of the film industry and the producer of the film. The Central Board of Film Censors carefully scrutinised the film when it was ready and at first refused a certificate in view of the scenes of dacoity and crime shown in it. It was later certified after some deletions were made by the producer. The film was again reviewed on representations made by Bhagat Singh's brother and two more cuts were ordered. A number of persons, including Bhagat Singh's brother, again made representations that, even after the cuts, the film contained distortion of facts about Bhagat Singh and other national figures. Though the Government had every sympathy with the points made in the representations, they had no power under the Constitution to deal with the matter. Mr. Sundarayya asked whether it was a fact that an associate of Bhagat Singh was shown in the film as having committed suicide though the gentleman was alive and in Delhi. Dr. Keskar: "I am not able to do anything in this matter. But the person concerned can sue the producers for defamation."

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Miscellaneous

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

• Cartoon
• The Hindu Crossword No. 8086
• Solution to puzzle No. 8085
• Seek company of saints
• dated September 11, 1954: Film on Bhagat Singh
• dated September 11, 1954: West's no to Soviet plan
• dated September 11, 1954: Significance of Onam
• Weather

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu