Emergency Censorship Row: Vivek Agnihotri Backs Kangana Ranaut Amid Tussle With CBFC

Vivek Agnihotri is known to not mince his words on and off social media. The filmmaker has often shared his candid views on trending issues on social media, Most recently, he took to his X (formerly Twitter) account to share a post in support of Kangana Ranaut as she battles with CBFC to greenlit her film Emergency for release.

'We Can’t Survive The Reel Emergency', says Vivek Agnihotri amid Kangana's struggle with CBFC

On September 4, the Bombay High Court refused the contradict the directives of CBFC and continued the stay on Emergency release. The film, which was scheduled to release on September 6, is now postponed indefinitely. The court  has deferred the case to September 18, until which the film cannot hit the big screen.

Amid this, The Kashmir Files director seemingly backed the actress-turned-politician. When a social media user pointed out that the movie Emergency might disturb communal peace, the director replied to the post by saying, “We survived the real ‘Emergency’ but we can’t survive the reel ‘Emergency’?" He also added, “Has the oldest civilisation on earth become so sissy?”

This is not the first time, the director has advocated for Emergency. Earlier in the day, he wrote on X, "CENSORSHIP: No creative expression should ever be censored—that's my personal view." He added, “But if you still insist on censorship, why not start with TV debates, news programs, political speeches, and religious sermons? These are often the real sources of fake news, division, hate, and violence.

He continued, “If you feel it maligns you or hurts your sentiments, then you should develop some spine to take that criticism. If it doesn’t present your side, create something that presents your case.” Vivek concluded the note by sharing, “After all, cowards only censor what exposes their ugly face.”

What is the Emergency controversy?

Kangana Ranaut’s Emergency film will miss the September 6 scheduled release date, with the Bombay High Court on Wednesday refusing to grant any urgent relief by directing the censor board to certify the movie immediately. A division bench of Justices B P Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla said it cannot grant any urgent relief at this stage in the wake of the directive issued by the Madhya Pradesh HC directing the censor board to consider objections to the movie before certifying it.

The bench said if not for the Madhya Pradesh HC it would have directed the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to issue a certificate to the movie “today” itself. Scheduled for release on September 6, the biographical drama is caught up in a controversy after Sikh organisations, including the Shiromani Akali Dal, objected, accusing it of misrepresenting the community and getting historical facts wrong.
(With inputs from PTI)