Producers Sajid Nadiadwala and Disney UTV have stopped living the dream that the CBFC (Censor Board of Film Certificaton) would permit them to screen their Imtiaz Ali directed Highway on Doordarshan. The CBFC has closed the chapter, and in fact, Nadiadwala and Disney UTV have taken back the copy of the film which they had submitted for perusal.
This is definitely bad news for especially the film's leading lady Alia Bhatt who had been very vocal about her displeasure in this regard while talking exclusively to SpotboyE.com sometime ago. The 22-year old actress had said: "Doordarshan has a family audience which is sensitive to a certain type of cinema. I definitely get that. But there's a side to me which believes that child sexual abuse does happen, and mind you, to not only girls but boys as well. There is a world out there which every child should know; it would only protect him/her. More often than not, children don't know what's happening with them when they are being abused (sexually). Educating them might just help. Let's get this straighter. Isn't this (child sexual abuse) the reason why every parent keeps telling his/her child that he/she should not talk to strangers? And the children keep asking why they should not. Shouldn't kids be provided answers? (April 8, 2015)."
Highway had been denied a Doordarshan telecast because of its depiction of child sexual abuse. Alia plays the character Veera in the film who was sexually abused at a very young age by her Uncle.
For those who've come in late, Alia's granny then tried to push the envelope by calling up her friend, Senior Board Member Nandini Sardesai, to ask if she could use her good offices to give a clean chit to Alia's film (April 20, 2015). That Sardesai failed to prevail upon Pahlaj is another story.
SpotboyE.com has it that this is one of the recent developments in CBFC office. Watch this space for more.