Shorthand Dictation 80 Words per minute “ Film Industry ” , Test 10 Minutes with 10 Minutes Audio Dictation, Shorthand Outline and Text Matter. Test 04

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I shall confine myself only to Demand No. 61 about the film industry. I wish I could /   congratulate the Ministry of  Information and Broadcasting  on its contribution to the film industry which, after textiles, has come to / be one of the biggest industries in this country. But unfortunately the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting except instituting a / few awards annually given  to certain  film artists, film directors, film writes, story writers and so on and so forth, / has not done much about it. In recent years, we have noticed that the film industry has  been passing through (100) a very big crises. If we go to studios of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, we will find  hundreds of film /  artistes, film technicians and film workers out of job. We will see that those places which were producing scores of / films have closed down; the studios are lying idle, and the artistes are without job. The Film directors are rotting / on the streets. If we examine the reason for all this unemployment and crisis in the film industry, we will /  find that the shortsighted policy of censorship by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has been responsible for it.

                I (200) am not one of those who believe that there should not be censorship of films and film directors should be /  given full freedom to produce whatever film they like, I am not one of those, who,  for a minute, will / stand for the vulgarity in the film industry. I am not one of those who believe that films should become /  a vehicle of taste and entertainment only and not for education. But we should remember that the film industry in / this country in the last few years has grown tremendously and it has contributed its own quota to the cultural (300) development of our country.  And it is for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to give guidance to the industry /  so that the industry may serve the cause of education, culture and national integration in this country.

What we find / if that we have got a Film Censor Board. It is constituted of some very eminent people who seldom meet / and all the work is left to the administrative machinery of the film Censor Board. Some of  the films are /  censored in a way which hardly does credit to the Ministry. Not once but a dozen times has the Ministry  (400) been approached by the film industrialists, film artistes and film writers and by various sections of this industry to see/ that the policy of the film Censor Board is thoroughly re-examined. It is high time that the Ministry revised its / policy of censoring. I know that there are certain puritans in this country who see vulgarity in everything. As I / said at the beginning, I will be the last person to stand for vulgarity, but there should be certain standards/ set up by the Ministry and by the film Censor Board so that the difficulties that the industry is facing (500) today are removed. I may suggest on my part a pre-censorship of the stories. What happens is that an enterprising / producer collects some money from somewhere and he starts production. The film goes before the Censor Board and for months / and months it keeps on lying in the cupboard of the film Censor Board. Prolonged correspondence goes on between the / producers and the film Censor Board. After that, so many cuts are made and finally the producer is absolutely on / the streets and his company goes into liquidation. It is a very sorry state of affairs. I hope and trust (600) that the Ministry will appoint a panel of certain eminent writers, certain eminent, intellectuals, who could thoroughly examine the story / before the film is produced. Once the film is produced, then there may be no difficulty for the producers. I / assure you that this House and the people of this country will give full cooperation to the Ministry of  Information / and Broadcasting in improving the standards of Indian films. We have come to know that the film has become one / of the most important vehicles of public opinion in this country, and therefore, as the guardian of public opinion, it is (700) for the Parliament of India to see that the film industry in India develops purely culturally and in a decent / way. It is for the Ministry to give guidance to it. Before I conclude, I once again appeal to / the Ministry that it should thoroughly revise its censoring policy and thoroughly reconstitute the Censor Board. A panel should be / constituted, consisting of really educated people who understand the themes and languages and the implication of the themes and languages / in which our films are produced.

Perhaps the quality of our films may not be as good as we would (800) want these to be, but there again the question of mone / comes in. But technique and literary content do not / need money and there is the discriminating choice of the people who sit and study the scripts and stories.