Nandita Das bats for rating system in certifying films

Mumbai, May 28 (IANS) Actor-director Nandita Das doesn't like the arbitrary process of the censor board, but prefers the rating system for films.

"Censorship is a very dangerous tool because 5-6 people decide what two billion Indians should watch. It is possible that something you don't like, I like, what I like, someone might not like. We have to trust people, so that we can collectively decide what is wrong and what is right.

"Anyway everything is available on the internet. That is why to remodel censorship, Shyam Benegal and his whole team was formed. I hope the rating system is there so that no five individuals randomly decide what is right and what is wrong," Nandita said at a panel discussion at the Kashish Film Festival.

Superstar Aamir Khan has previously supported the rating system, a system followed in some foreign countries where the film, according to its content, is certified or rated as to which age group can watch it.

Nandita has had her fair share of issues with the censor board. Her film "Fire" along with Shabana Azmi, based on a lesbian relationship, faced problems with the board and so did her debut directorial "Firaaq", depicting the 2002 Gujarat riots, and was reportedly banned before it was finally allowed to be released.

"We had to suffer in 'Fire' or in 'Water'... it's sometimes not the censor board's fault. 'Fire', in fact, was not cut at all. There have been numerous films where arbitrarily things have been cut," she added.

Films she felt should have been censored but weren't censored? "There are numerous films which I found offensive, where women are portrayed in a wrong way, or there is weird violence, or dialogues which take us back 20 generations.

"So even these films if we don't want to watch, we don't watch; we tell others that this is a bad film, don't watch it. But that doesn't mean that what I didn't like, I would want it to be censored. I feel that all kinds of films should be made and we, as individuals, think and understand what is good and what is wrong," she said.

Nandita's next film as director is based on Pakistani writer Saadat Hasan Manto.