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Censor board to view Jinnah on Monday

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Bombay

Mired in controversy since inception, Akbar Ahmed's magnum opus Jinnah has just one hurdle to overcome before being released in India: approval from the Central Board for Film Certification.

"We are screening a special show for the chairman of the censor board Asha Parekh on Monday," said Krishna Gamre, a friend of producer Akbar Ahmed who has come down from London to liaise with the CBFC in India.

Gamre told Rediff On The NeT that Jinnah was neither anti-Indian nor was it derogatory of Indian political leaders. "So there is no ground to oppose the film's release in India," he said.

The film did not have a smooth sailing even in Pakistan, the land founded by the Quaid-e-Azam and to honour whom the film was conceived in the first place. Trouble first arose when Akbar Ahmed homed in on Christopher Lee to play the main role in the film.

The Pakistani government, which had agreed to provide nearly $ 1 million towards the project, withdrew the offer as it was unhappy over Lee's choice, since he was well known the world over for his celluloid portrayal of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

However, Ahmed decided to go ahead with the film, somehow managing the finances, as he felt no one else could do justice to the role.

But the worse was yet to come. When the film was completed after 18 months and screened in Pakistan, the Nawaz Sharief government felt it was pro-Indian and glorified the Indian leaders, and promptly banned it.

"So we went ahead and released the film in Los Angeles and some theatres in London where it received a good response," says Gamre.

Interestingly, Jinnah was screened in May for a select band of Bombay intellectuals. Some of them felt the film was anti-Indian and portrayed Indian leaders in bad light.

Former Bharatiya Janata Party leader Madhu Deolekar told Rediff On The NeT, "The film highlights atrocities on Muslims during Partition, while there are hardly any scenes of atrocities on Hindus. Moreover, Jinnah has been painted as a hero which cannot be accepted by Indians."

Deolekar also felt the film must not be released in India as it will reopen old wounds and cause tensions and hatred between communities.

However, Gamre says this is baseless. "How can the film be anti-Indian when the Pakistan government has openly stated that the film is pro-Indian and even banned it?"

"In the film Jinnah wears a suit and smokes a cigar which is why it has been banned. Pakistanis cannot accept this as they have been taught that Jinnah was a true follower of Islam," counters Deolekar, "And moreover, nobody in India can accept Jinnah as a national hero. I feel a man who vivisected our country cannot be portrayed as a hero in India."

Gamre, on the other hand, points out that Jinnah never wanted Partition, but wanted India to be a federal structure like America, and had sought more autonomy for the provinces.

Endless arguments apart, the fate of the film will be known on Monday.

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