Farooki likely move the court after Aug 21

Director Mostofa Sarwar Farooki is now planning to take legal steps against the Bangladesh Film Censor Board as it failed to reach a conclusion on his film ‘Saturday Afternoon’ (Shonibar Bikel) in more than three years.

The board initially denied issuing a censor certificate for the film and Farooki appealed against the decision. The appeal committee kept the issue pending for more than three years.

The director took to social media recently and kept writing about the issue and received enormous support from his fans. On Wednesday, Farooki gave a seven-day ultimatum to the board and said that the makers of the film demand a clearance certificate for the film within the next seven days which will be ending on August 21.

Thus, the matter once again got the attention of the censor board resulting in the film being watched again by the Vice Chairman of BFCB on Wednesday (August 17).

“Today, the Vice Chairman of the Bangladesh Film Censor Board, Mohammad Saifullah, watched ‘Saturday Afternoon’. We hope the film will receive a censor certificate soon, at least for the sake of the development of our film industry,” Farooki wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

The post continued by saying, “Audiences from different continents of the world have watched the film, and however, only a handful of people from Bangladesh were able to watch the movie. A large group of Bangladeshi audiences watched the film at IFSA, Toronto. They were very excited. By the end of the film, many were asking, ‘why has this film not received clearance from the censor board?’ I didn’t respond to their question as I myself did not know the answer to the question. I am as upset with the censor board’s treatment similarly to those particular viewers.”

“However, we have given a letter demanding issuance of the clearance certificate in seven days—the last day of which will be August 21. After that, we will follow the legal steps regarding this matter.

“We will continue to raise our voices against all kinds of discrimination which creates barriers for cinema or any form of creative work. Freedom of expression is fundamental and non-negotiable,” concluded Farooki.