Tseten, along with a group of supporters, wore Tibetan flags at a mall in Andheri, a Mumbai suburb, where the film was playing and distributed leaflets to On Friday, the day the film released, Mr. See anything controversial in either the intention or portrayal of the song where the Free Tibet banner is blurred.Ī spokesperson for the film declined to comment to India Ink. The film’s director, Imtiaz Ali, is reported to have told a news channel that he didn’t “For our Indian brothers and sisters it’s a matter of free speech, for Tibetans Tibetans say the latest controversy is about more than just freedom of expression for the Tibetan community in exile. Gandhi, was also banned in an Indian state because of claims that the book, written by a former executive editor of The New York Times, portrayed Mr. Earlier this year, a book about India’s founding father, In August, a Bollywood film on affirmative action was banned in three states from opening on schedule, not by the Censor Board but by politicians who said the film’s content would ignite a civil order problem. The controversy also highlights India’s often circumscribed right to freedom of expression. “Being Tibetans in exile, we’re here for a purpose,” he said. Jigdal thought it was important to highlight the plight of Tibetans in this context. At least five monks and two nuns have died this year after setting themselves on fire. There has been a recent wave of self-immolations in southwestern China, which the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama attributed to desperation because Tibetans faced “cultural genocide” under Chinese rule. The film’s censorship comes at a crucial time. Pankaja Thakur, the chief executive officer of the Central Board of Film Certification, was not immediately available to comment to India Ink. Jigdal didn’t get a chance to meet the Censor Board, Tibetan friends who did said the Censor Board chief claimed to have merely questioned the relevance of the shots,Īfter which the director volunteered to censor it. Indians who value their democratic freedoms.Īlthough Mr. Jigdal, speaking from Mumbai, noting he has the support of “In a country, which has the values of liberty and freedom, we’re here to express our disappointment about the censorship,” said Mr. They hoped to speak to the director and the Censor Board, which reviews every commercial film released in the country and was reported to have mandated the cuts to pass the film with a less restrictive certification. Jigdal and a friend, Dorjee Tseten, 28, the national director of Students for a Free Tibet, decided to head to the city of Bollywood industry itself, Mumbai, to express theirĭisappointment. An estimatedĪfter learning of the censorship, Mr. India has welcomed Tibetans who fled Chinese rule, including the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. China’s governmentĬlaims Tibet is an integral part of China, while Tibetan leaders argue for greater autonomy. Jigdal, who is the program director of the Students for a Free Tibet, India, hoped the film would show the struggle of his community, even in token shots, represented on the big screen. Although there was much confusionĪbout what exactly got censored, moviegoers who watched the film after its release on Friday said the flag remained untouched, but a Free Tibet banner was blurred in the film. Jigdal and Bollywood’s other Tibetan fans grew bitterly disappointed after learning from early media reports that the creators of “Rockstar,” succumbing to Indian censors, “Bollywood is very popular in the Tibetan community not just in India but in Tibet itself.”īut in recent weeks, Mr. “We were happy being part of it,” said Mr. When the crew came to his hometown of Dharamsala to film a portion of the flick last November, he was among those who raced to catch a glimpse of the shoot at a Tibetan arts and cultureĭharamsala, a sleepy Indian town nestled in the Himalayan foothills that hosts the exiled Tibetan government, was getting a shot of mainstream Bollywood glamour, Mr. Like any self-respecting Bollywood cinephile, Tenzin Jigdal was excited about the new Hindi movie “Rockstar,” which was scored by one of his favorite music directors, A.
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