Vidya Balan lashes out at I&B ministry for stalling ‘The Dirty Picture’ TV premiere

Vidya Balan, who played South siren Silk Smitha in Milan Luthria’s film ‘The Dirty Picture’, has slammed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for its decision to scrap the TV premiere of the movie last Sunday.

‘The Dirty Picture’, which was released last year on December 10, was scheduled for the telecast at noon and 8pm yesterday on Sony TV but the ministry instructed the channel to broadcast the film after 11pm so that children don’t see it.

As per the reports, the original A-rated (Adults Only) film underwent almost 59 cuts but still it was not given a U/A certificate (Parental Guidance).

‘The Dirty Picture’ brought Balan her first and only ‘National Award’ and perhaps this is a reason why the actress is a bit more upset with the ministry’s decision.

“It defies logic when the same government body that has honoured a film with three National Awards, is now calling for the same film not to be broadcast on national television! What is even more astounding is that the Censor Board, which has cleared the film for television broadcast, is under the aegis of the very same government body!” she said.

Balan, now 34, added, “I do hope that better sense prevails and that the film industry is not once again used as a convenient high profile punching bag for anyone looking to establish their high moral credentials.”

The decision to stall the transmission was made at the last moment as a result to which Sony had to run a ticker on its channel in order to apologize to its viewers for the inconvenience. Therefore, along with Balan, the director of the movie is also pretty upset with the ministry.

“I am shocked and disappointed that this decision was taken at the last moment,” said director Milan Luthria.

“A national award-winning film cannot have a national telecast??? This is… simple hypocrisy,” director Karan Johar said on Twitter.

‘The Dirty Picture’ featured Emraan Hashmi, Naseeruddin Shah and Tusshar Kapoor as the male leads.

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Posted by Imran Shaukat Khan on Apr 24 2012. Filed under Bollywood. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.