Swara Bhaskar who recently stole our hearts with her performance in Nil Battey Sannata, wrote an open letter to Pahlaj Nihalani. She described him how he affects her work as an actor through his actions as CBFC Chairperson. She brings out some valid points that she experienced herself. Here are some excerpts from DNA:
"The following has happened during each of the last three films that I’ve dubbed. Sometime after I think that I’ve completed dubbing, I get a call from the team and am asked to come and re-dub certain portions of the film because, you and/or your review committee has said that the words like ‘sala’, ‘saali’, ‘haraamzada’, ‘rakhail’ and ‘bloody’ (!) will have to be removed if the makers wanted a U/A certificate."
She also wrote," Any serious actor will tell you that everything we say and do is for a reason, with a motivation, in an effort to convey something. Nothing is meaningless. So when I say ‘habdan saali’, ‘bhak saalaa’ or ‘bloody’ or even ‘haraamzaada’, I am either being authentic to my character’s linguistic context or state of mind. I cannot overstate the point but I try really hard to add some memorable flavour and authenticity to my roles and you and your team have often hosed all my sincere acting efforts with Ganga jal! And this is both a complaint and a fear. The next time I play a character who belongs to a certain class context that requires a certain kind of crude speech and I work hard and deliver that performance, some sanitation loving do-gooder from your team will come along and have me re-dub my so-called offensive part and that will be the end of the authenticity of my acting. How will I ever get a National Award, sir?"
So True!