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Shekhar Kapur blasts Asha Parekh

Renowned filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, who is determined not to release his film Elizabeth till it is cleared without cuts, today described as 'horrifying' a remark by the Central Board of Film Certification chief, Asha Parekh, that ''most of the film has been left untouched.''

Addressing a news conference, Shekhar Kapur described as unfortunate a remark by Parekh that he had raised a controversy only for the sake of publicity. He said he did not need any more publicity for a film which had already grossed over $ 100 million all over the world.

He also felt that Parekh should not have made the comments in view of the fact that he had already moved an appeal before the Film Certification Appelate Tribunal against the decision of the board, which had recommended three cuts in the film.

As a consequence of the censor trouble, Elizabeth , which has already won one Oscar and four British Academy awards, did not have its scheduled premiere last evening in the presence of President K R Naryayanan and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at the Siri Fort auditorium.

Elizabeth is the first-ever film made by an Indian director for a foreign producer. Shekhar Kapur had also run into censor trouble with his last film, Bandit Queen.

Shekhar Kapur, who was accompanied at the press meet by Jospeh Fiennes, who has essayed a prominent role in the film, felt that the Indian censors would behave far more responsibly if a stipulation was laid down asking them to give reasons for the cuts recommended by them.

He said he had only wanted a fair deal to the film, which has already been seen by thousands of viewers all over the country in special shows or at the International Film Festival of India in Hyderabad.

He said Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan was released without cuts after the director refused to exhibit it otherwise. Shekhar Kapur, therefore, wondered why he was being troubled.

''Films do not work that way,'' he said in response to a question about Parekh's comment that most of the film had not been touched, and said he found it very demeaning that the CBFC had people who knew very little about filmmaking.

Clearly, the CBFC had no respect for cinema, or the extensive research and hard work that filmmakers have to undertake for making a film, he said. ''Every scene affects a film,'' he added, ''the chairperson was being 'ridiculous' if she had indeed made that remark.''

Asked about the fact that the film could get only one Oscar award - to Jenny Shuncore for make-up - whereas it got five awards, including most outstanding film and best actress for Kate Blanchett, at the British Academy, Shekhar said that he was in fact taken aback when his film was nominated for as many as seven Oscars.

While noting that the selection process for the Oscars was fair, he did admit that it was not possible to say there were no pressures.

Reacting to comments in the British press about the film having been made in Bollywood style, Shekhar Kapur said that strange reactions were expected whenever one does anything different. He said his idea of the film was not to show British history, which had been shown in other films, but only to concentrate on how Elizabeth evolved as a person from a meek princess to a ruthless queen.

He said that he had felt greater freedom when he made Bandit Queen since he found it difficult to tamper with the script in Elizabeth.

Joseph Fiennes said in reply to a question that he did not feel overshadowed by other characters in the film because he had known what his role required. He said he found Shekhar Kapur understood the human psyche very well. ''I also admired the way he accepted chaos,'' he added amidst laughter.

Only two Indians have won the Oscar so far: Bhanu Athaiya for costume design for Gandhi in 1982 and master craftsmen Satyajit Ray for lifetime contribution shortly before his death.

Made by a non-Englishman, Elizabeth provoked a lot of curiosity. Viewers in England were left wondering how Shekhar Kapur imparts an almost earthly quality to the image of the queen, apart from making it a fast-moving film with action, events and intrigue rather than a literary, historical venture.

Expectedly, the film also caused a lot of controversy, primarily because Shekhar Kapur has shown that the virgin queen was not a virgin after all. As he said in an interview, the theory of Elizabeth-I being a virgin was floated by the queen herself. She had to rule in a world of men, and it was a political move on her part.

UNI

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