National award-winning filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda is in shock over the liberal attitude of the Censor Board Of Film Certification (CBFC). He had gone for a certification for a censor certificate for his new film Babloo Happy Hai with much trepidation. "My film is about the casual attitude today's youngsters have towards pre-marital sex. Both my earlier feature films I Am Kalam and Jalpari have featured children as protagonists. This is the first time I've gone into adult territory. I thought the censor board would go over-board cutting the scenes and dialogues where sex is discussed explicitly. I thought they'd treat my film like Grand Masti. To my surprise they agreed to give me a UA certificate. The censor board felt youngsters under the age of consent should also know about the pitfalls of pre-marital sex. " 

 

 

It seems it isn't only Panda who earlier made children's films, who has grown up. The Censor Board which so far dealt with naked bodies and physical contact with stern disapproval has decided to take a hard liberal look at sexual content.  A source close to the censor board says, "The CBFC has gone for a complete re-vamp in thought regarding what was earlier considered sensitive issues. In a film like Babloo Happy Hai, the sexual references are not used for titillation. It can't be judged by the same yardstick as Grand Masti." Winds of censorial change have been evident this year when a film like Martin Scorcese's The Wolf Of Wall Street and Asim Ahluwalia's Miss Lovely were allowed scenes of copulation and nudity.

 

While these two films were rightly accorded 'Adults Only' certificates, Nila Madhab Panda's film has been censored with an 'UA' which means kids below 13 can watch it too under parental guidance. Says the over-joyed Panda, "Nowadays kids learn about sex much faster than earlier generations. Earlier the sex icons of pop-art were much older. Today it's Justin Bieber and Rihanna who are teenagers themselves and who address their aggressively sexual attitude to 13-14 year olds. I thought I'd have to fight to get Babloo Happy Hai censored. But the censor board made it easy for me."