Kona Venkat says the censor board should certify films, not order cuts

Writer Kona Venkat has asked how far the censor board's role should go. At an event for Comrade Kalyan, he said the board's job is to give a film a certificate, not to tell its makers which scenes to cut.

He said the authorities are free to decide which certificate a film gets. In his view, asking filmmakers to remove particular scenes goes beyond that.

Kona Venkat used satire and the film's own experience to make his point. The board objected to the word "Naxal", which is tied to the film's backdrop, so the team replaced it with "annalu". The green costumes worn by the characters were a harder problem. A word can be swapped, he explained, but you cannot simply change the colour of clothes once they are already on camera and the film has been shot.

Reports say Comrade Kalyan went through the Revising Committee before it was given a UA 16+ certificate.

The writer also spoke about how the business has changed. These days, he said, OTT platforms watch the complete film before they agree to buy it.