#sanskaribond-cbfc caught in a web

Social media is increasingly turning into a platform of war between different ideologies in a politically surcharged environment

“#SanskariBond seduces women by lighting agarbattis in his bedroom before introducing them to his Mom,” read a tweet. Once the social media army gets hold of you, there’s no saving you as Censor Board chief Pankaj Nihalani is now finding out. He had gone on record recently that it was his duty to guide the new generation and it was important as head of the censor board to ensure they ‘didn’t get the wrong education.’

Whether he has understood his role correctly or not, Nihalani and the Censor Board, who were already under fire for reducing the length of kissing scenes in the new James Bond movie, Spectre, started trending with the hashtag #SanskariBond. Mocking Censor board’s attempts to ‘protect Indian culture’, #Sanskaaribond became the buzzword on twitter and Facebook.

Even a few verified users couldn’t help but cash in on the trend and came up with a few witty lines of their own: Shirish Kunder tweeted, “No one knows women better than our Censor Board. They know for exactly how long James Bond has to kiss Monica Bellucci to satisfy her.”

When the #sanskaribond trend started, Nihalani responded saying only a ‘few thousand on twitter’ shared the opinion but soon it went viral and as a result became a debate on various platforms and the censor board chief was forced to admit that he hadn’t seen the new James Bond film but stood by the decision. Twitter users also took his video tribute to Narendra Modi apart from screenshot–ing and pointing out the many un-Indian things in the video highlighting India’s progress. Rumours are strong that Pankaj Nihalani’s term as chief of the censor board could be cut short after so much negative criticism from all quarters.

Social media networks are increasingly turning into platforms of war between different ideologies in a politically surcharged environment. Pankaj Nihalani was not the only one who was at the wrong end of abuse on social media platforms as Aamir Khan was criticised heavily for stating that intolerance was growing in the country and that it made his wife, Kiran Rao contemplate leaving the country. But in the second wave of tweets and posts, many said that the barrage of criticism only served to prove Khan’s point.