Until around 5 months ago, the entire Tollywood used to shiver whenever a film goes for censor. The prime reason behind this terror was none other than the then censor chief, Dhanalakshmi. The lady, with her strict dictatorial principles, singlehandedly cast her terror spell among even a handful of Tollywood’s senior producers.
Several Tollywood’s bigwigs like Ram Gopal Varma, C Kalyan and Mohan Babu openly criticized Dhanalkshmi’s anarchic behavior and RGV even filed a case on Dhanalakshmi. Rumours were rife that the bigwigs in the industry lobbied heavily for Dhanalakshmi’s replacement. However, Dhanalaskhmi successfully finished her tenure and stepped down from her post in December and Tollywood got a new chairman in Vijay Kumar Reddy.
During Dhanalakshmi’s time, an A or U/A certificate was mandatorily issued even for the slightest exposure by heroines, presence of item songs and occasional usage of cuss words or realistic portrayal of violence. She did not even spare a big star’s film like Mahesh Babu’s Businessman, where several thigh shots and cleavages were blurred and cuss words muted. Even though the makers of numerous films tried hard to convince and counter Dhanalakshmi’s views, they all failed miserably.
But looks like things have changed for good now. Of late, the censor board seemed to have gone softer towards items songs and excess violence. For example: in the recently released Dohchay, a hot item song was passed without much fuss and the film was given a clean U and for Temper, U/A was awarded even though the film had excess violence. This change in the censor board has been welcomed by the producers with open hands.
Unlike Dhanalakshmi’s times, the present censor board seems to have understood the perspective of a filmmaker even during the showing of killings and violence. However, the same censor board gave an A for Sai Dharam Tej’s Rey, which was understandable for the content it dealt with. Needless to say, this welcoming change in censor board is now being considered as a biggest blessing to many of our filmmakers, who can now enjoy their creative expression.
