Kher, who was appointed by the previous government,
was replaced last Wednesday (13 October) as chairman of the censor
board by yesteryear's screen siren Sharmila Tagore.
It was on October 14 that Kher served a notice to Surjeet asking
the CPM general secretary to "satisfactorily substantiate the
allegation or publicly deny the same within 48 hours".
Kher's protestations notwithstanding, the film fraternity's reactions
to his ouster have not all been supportive. Two associations of
documentary filmmakers in fact lauded the government’s decision
to remove Kher.
The strongest criticism of Kher has come from documentary filmmaker
Rakesh Sharma. It was under Kher's tenure that Sharma's award winning
documentary on the Gujarat riots Final Solution was stalled
for months before finally being cleared without cuts two weeks ago.
Sharma in a prepared statement sent from the US had this to say,
"I am really upset by the way Anupam Kher is taking credit
for clearing my documentary on Gujarat riots and saying that he
is being victimised, despite lifting the ban on it. The truth is
that we documentary filmmakers were harassed by him for a long time.
During a recent film festival in Bangalore, where Final Solution
was opening, he sent the police after us."
Also Read:
Kher
sends legal notice to Left leader Surjeet
Sharmila
Tagore new censor board chief after Kher scissored
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