Anurag Kashyap Slams CBFC for Issuing Smoking Warnings in Hollywood Film 'Sinners'

Bollywood filmmaker Anurag Kashyap is known for voicing his opinions strongly, and criticising the government and the certification board time and again. He has now reacted to the mandatory health disclaimers displayed during the screening of the Hollywood film Sinners in Indian theatres.

In a recent interview, Kashyap talked about the disclaimers in Indian theatres, he said, “In a mood piece such as Sinners, these disclaimers, such as smoking and drinking, yank the audience out of the immersive experience that the filmmaker had painstakingly created, killing the mood and the build-up in the process."

Anurag further talked about how he sued the Censor Board for retaining these disclaimers in his 2013 movie Ugly, “I argued that it was a fundamental threat to artistic expression. The case dragged on, and eventually, we had to abandon the fight and release it after our film got pirated. A filmmaker uses visuals, music and nuance to create something for the audience to immerse in. And before they could even enter that world, a jarring ad ruins the experience."

Sinners, an action-horror movie starring Michael B. Jordan, Miles Caton, Saul Williams, Hailee Steinfeld, Delroy Lindo, and Jack O’Connell was released in Indian theatres on April 18. The movie follows twins Smoke and Stack as they return to their homeland in Mississippi in search of a new beginning, only to run upon vampires, an ancient evil.