Mausam 'Cowed' down

Nowadays it appears that animals have more rights and privileges than human beings, at least as far as the censor board is concerned.

The five promotional trailers of Mausam are pending clearance, reportedly on 'humanitarian' grounds, as one of them features a cow. Not that the cow is being ill-treated or even milked on screen. It's just a cow passing by in a frame. Yes, you heard that right.

The censor board has now asked the Mausam producers to obtain clearance from the Animal Welfare Board, in order to get clearance.

Producer Sheetal Talwar is livid. "I understand any shot of an animal in a film has to be cleared by the Animal Welfare Board. For our film Rakht Charitra we even had to get clearance from the Board for random street dogs that wandered into the frame. Fair enough. There's a shot of a cow in Mausam. We are ready to get a clearance from the Animal Welfare Board for it." Talwar however wonders why all the teaser trailers have been held back.

"The censors are welcome to hold back the trailer with the cow, until we get clearance. But why hold back all five trailers?"

Pankaja Thakur, chief executive officer of the censor board said, "The regional officer in Mumbai, JP Singh, has examined the promos, and cleared all the same."

Singh however said, "The Animal Welfare Board's NOC (no-objection certificate) is required in order to show animals on screen."