Kamal Swaroop's discussion on his documentary and censorship at ThadomalShahani Centre for Media and Communications ends on a high note

EDUCATION/CAREER

by Shrutee K/DNS

Mumbai, December 2015 :Lights, camera…censorship! Film director Kamal Swaroop’s documentary film ‘Dance for Democracy’ has been waiting for the approval of the censor board since the past 4 months .Ironically, the film was based on democracy. Swaroop is specially known for his ambitious film projects such as ‘Rangbhoomi’ and ‘Om darbadar’.

ThadomalShahani Centre for Media and Communication (TSCMC) organised an open discussion with the national award winning film maker as a part of #CMCEvenings, a platform to ‘connect over conversation’. The session aimed at enabling an ‘uncensored understanding’ of how the freedom to express and create is also affected by dictated filtration. As a film maker, Swaroop’s main aim is to shock his audience with unpredictability and he has attempted to do the same in his movies. The discussion not only traced the history of censorship, but focused upon the influence of foreign cinema, the difference between art and craft, and the problems a film maker deal with while creating his film.

The Dance for Democracy was a record of the true political conflicts that took place, and Swaroop feels that the censor board’s opinion was abstract as they never could pin point the problem with the documentary. As far as his options to release the film are concerned, Swaroop put in that in this digital age, stopping a movie from reaching its viewers is very difficult. Swaroop concluded that while many considered the documentary to be too realistic, he believes that his “realism is that he did not interfere” with the film making.

About Thadomal Shahani Centre for Media & Communications (TSCMC):, an initiative by the Shahani Group is a bold approach towards the media education - creating a college and a curriculum designed for students who want to explore the fresh and exciting field of media and want to achieve the highest levels! Recognizing the multi-dimensional nature of students, TSCMC is dedicated to the education of the next generation of media leaders by preparing the whole student for life in the media industry.

About ThadomalShahani Trust: The ThadomalShahani Trust is one of Mumbai’s premier private charitable trusts established in 1958. Its primary goals are to provide education, healthcare and housing the weaker             `sections of society. Over the last half a century, the Shahani Trust has facilitated the creation of many well-known educational and medical institutions in Mumbai.