Filmmaker Mohsin Khan’s Mamta Child Factory, which has been stuck at the CBFC since June, is now being called a dubbed film by the certification body. The Central Board of Film Certification issued a show cause notice, dated October 14, to director Mohsin Khan, questioning the film’s originality. The notice states that Mamta Child Factory is the dubbed version of a film and hence could not be certified as an “original” work.
The facts, however, are different. Mohsin Khan made a film in two languages. The Marathi version was titled Delivery Boy while the Hindi version was called Mamta Child Factory. Delivery Boy was cleared by the CBFC in January 2024 and released in February 2024.
In spite of this, the CBFC is reluctant to issue a certificate to the Hindi version because “this film highlights surrogacy in a commercial way”. After refusal of certificate, Mohsin Khan was asked to apply for certification by calling the film a dubbed version. But Khan refused to do so as it had been shot in Hindi. To add insult to injury, the CBFC sent Khan a notice after several weeks of silence, stating that “the director himself had said, this is a dubbed film”.
Mohsin Khan feels, the CBFC is playing these games with him as it did not want to give the real reason for refusal of certificate. For, had they given the real reason (“this film highlights surrogacy in a commercial way”), the filmmaker could’ve easily gone to court. “So they took the easy route, called it a dubbed film and shut the file,” concluded a dejected Khan.
