Bollywood anxious as India abolishes film certification tribunal

Filmmakers slam abolition of Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), calling it a ‘setback for artistic freedom’.

New Delhi, India – Actress Geetika Vidya Ohlyan was in a meeting when her phone rang. It was a message on her college WhatsApp group. “I saw a message that Vishal [Bhardwaj] sir had called it a sad day for cinema,” Ohlyan told Al Jazeera, referring to the filmmaker’s tweet about the Indian government’s decision to abolish the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT). The FCAT was set up in 1983 by India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to hear appeals by filmmakers aggrieved by the decision of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), a British colonial-era body popularly referred to as the “censor board”.