http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120418/jsp/calcutta/story_15387794.jsp#.T47X0rNa5vY

Paoli remains under wraps

OUR BUREAU

One of the posters banned in Bengal Paoli Dam will have to hit the city walls all covered up with the high court refusing to issue an interim stay on the West Bengal Board of Censorship's ban on posters of Hate Story, which releases this Friday. The posters of the Vivek Agnihotri-directed film that marks the Bollywood debut of the Tolly actress proved too hot to handle for Bengal. The censor board described the posters as "obscene and provocative", banning two of them — one showing Paoli's bare back and the other of Paoli in "a compromising position" with a man — and clearing six others only after blotting out skin show with blue ink. Kushagra Arts, the regional distributors of the film, moved court on Tuesday, demanding that the ban be stayed. Justice Dipankar Dutta asked the censor board to file an affidavit stating why it had objected to the posters and decided to hear the matter in detail after eight weeks. The judge also allowed the distributors the liberty to file an appeal before the censor board. "We had approached the court challenging the unconstitutionality of the West Bengal Compulsory Censorship of Film Publicity Materials Act of 1974, which is only applicable to film posters displayed in the state," said Shreya Ghosh, who moved court on behalf of Kushagra Arts. Anindya Mitra, the state advocate-general, countered: "Adults are allowed to watch adult films. If the offensive scenes are shown in posters, minors will see the same and that will create a bad impact on their minds." Kushagra Arts plans to appeal to the censor board on Wednesday. "Every film relies on publicity and posters are a major part of a film's publicity. The posters of this particular film are being displayed everywhere, except West Bengal," Pritam Jalan of Kushagra Arts had told Metro when the posters were banned about a week ago. The distributors have not yet displayed the posters cleared with changes because they feel the blue ink is a "distortion". The censor board, however, seems adamant. "We stand by our position that the posters are not fit to be seen by impressionable minds and therefore should not be displayed in public," censor board official Debananda Sengupta said.