CBFC orders Ralph Fiennes's 'Conclave' must carry 37-second plot summary
What's the story
Reportedly, the Central Board of Film Certification has directed the makers of Oscar-nominated film Conclave to add a 37-second audio-visual disclaimer summarizing the plot. The strange demand is to avoid any possible misinterpretation of the thriller, which delves into power dynamics in Vatican City after the sudden demise of a pope. A CBFC insider defended the move to Mid-Day, saying, "There have been no cuts made to the movie. But the disclaimer was important in a multi-cultural set-up like ours."
Storytelling concerns
Concerns over storytelling impact and precedent
The CBFC's demand has raised fears of how it would affect storytelling. Normally, disclaimers are employed to state that a movie is fictional, but asking filmmakers to summarize their story beforehand could take away from the story's impact. An anonymous indie filmmaker feared this new trend, saying, "The film's runtime is two hours outside India, but we will watch a watered-down version that is one-hour-58-minute long."
CBFC scrutiny
CBFC's recent stringent measures on film content
Over the last year, the CBFC has been especially strict with a number of films including Monkey Man, Punjab '95, and Santosh. This increased scrutiny prompted PVR—the distributing partners of Conclave—to submit a toned-down version of the film to the Board. This decision was swayed by their experience with The Apprentice last year. Despite all this, Ralph Fiennes's Conclave is releasing in India on Friday.