Soni Razdan’s No Fathers in Kashmir gets U/A certification after 8 months, 6 screenings

After an eight-month long fight, the makers of No Fathers In Kashmir have finally been given a U/A certificate by the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Ashvin Kumar, No Fathers in Kashmir stars Soni Razdan, Anshuman Jha and Kulbushan Kharbanda and traces the love story of two teenagers in search of their fathers who have gone missing in Kashmir.

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While initially the makers were against any change to the film, the final version has been approved after a few cuts and disclaimers being incorporated in the movie. CBFC Regional Officer Tushar Karmakar told IANS, “FCAT has asked the filmmaker to make some changes, and if these are found okay, CBFC will give a go-ahead to the film.”

The face-off between the makers of the film and the CBFC began in July 2018 and lasted for almost eight months. When the CBFC awarded the film an A certificate, the makers moved to FCAT in November and a hearing was held in December and later in January.

Actor Alia Bhatt had extended support for mother Soni’s film last year when the CBFC refused an U/A certificate. While Alia tweeted about lifting the ban on the film, a CBFC officer had then said there was no ban as such.  

The filmmakers are ecstatic with this development. Ashvin said in a statement, “10 years ago in my film Inshallah football I had warned that alienating the youth of Kashmir would have catastrophic consequences. Censorship of the truth about Kashmir has caused a crisis of compassion, amplifying misguided fears of ordinary Indians towards ordinary Kashmiris. Keeping public away from information and truth is such a myopic policy - it only breeds more hostility when the need of the hour is empathy leading to peace. Anyone who genuinely wants peace will understand that we must first stop censoring films that tell the truth about Kashmir”.

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