A documentary about a man who goes about sticking bills with an unusual theory has been denied a certificate from Kolkata’s CBFC. The man, KC Paul, has been trying to propagate his theory that the sun revolves around the earth once in 365 days, for around four decades now. The 40-minute documentary called The Geocentric Man by Saumya Sengupta, explicitly states that the documentary doesn’t endorse its subject’s theory. And still, reports indicate that the CBFC didn’t certify the documentary for being ‘anti-scientific’.
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The official reason stated is as follows: “The reason for refusal may please be elaborated and spelling of names in content may please be corrected. Resubmit only after the necessary correction are done.” The certificate being denied on the basis of ‘incorrect spellings of names’ in the content, has left director Sengupta and producer Amit Kumar Ganguly confused. Reports suggest that they tried to get an audience with the CBFC chief (Kolkata) Samrat Bandopadhyay who simply said “The applicant will know the details if he logs into his account.”
The director-producer duo have not been given a reason for the refusal to certify the film, and have been summoned again on Februrary 13. “With this new February 13 date, CBFC is violating its own guideline and taking 77 days to let us know what’s gone wrong. There was no regional officer in December and we accepted the fact that the documentary couldn’t be passed on time before we could send it for the National Awards. This inordinate delay is leaving a bitter taste,” Sengupta was quoted here.
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Kartick Chandra Paul is an amateur astronomer, and a veteran of the Indo-China war in 1962. He’s been a fascinating subject for Kolkata’s pop culture, featured in many many profiles by reputed publications. And the director claims to have been engrossed by this unconventional life which involved Paul living on a pavement on Rashbehari Avenue for two years, before moving to the verandah of his Howrah home. He pays the bills with the pension he gets from his job in the State Electricity Board, after he retired from the army in 1979.The fact that one person can be so driven about such an extreme belief system for so long, has left many including director Sengupta curious.
The Kolkata CBFC had been in the news earlier for Arindam Sil’s Dhananjoy, when it followed rather unusual procedure and forwarded the film to Mumbai branch of CBFC for certification. The film did eventually get a release after the director flew down to Mumbai, and now it remains to be seen how many more days do the makers of The Geocentric Man have to endure before a certificate is handed to them.
Feature image source: Indian Express.
