Filmmaker says actor lied on TV - Times of India

MUMBAI: A social media war erupted between actor Anupam Kher and documentary filmmaker Rakesh Sharma, with the latter accusing Kher of "merrily distorting and falsifying facts to score points in a live TV debate". The point of contention was Kher taking credit on national television for clearing Sharma's film on the 2002 Gujarat riots, Final Solution, during the NDA regime and claiming that Sharma sent him a text message stating, "I want to touch your feet for your magnanimity."

Kher made these claims to two channels last week.

Sharma clarified on Facebook that while Kher did convene a special committee, which cleared the film without a cut, this was done only once the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime was in power and after protests by the documentary film-makers frater- nity. He went on to say that the film was initially banned by the Central Board for Film Certification, chaired by Kher, in 2004 and he accused Kher and his "coterie of partisan officers" for harassing him by refusing to schedule a film screening and then quickly banning the film without watching it in its entirety. "I made a formal complaint against the censor board and raised the issue that the censor board was partisan, and I asked them to take punitive action against the officers involved, and overturn the CBFC ruling," said Sharma, adding that two officers were penalized. Sharma claims that Kher's decision to convene a special screening can be traced to him "getting wind of the fact that this kind of action was being taken".

Kher re-tweeted a link to the video, showing Sharma admitting it was Kher who got the film passed without cuts. "If he says it was certified during the UPA regime, is he trying to say the government intervened and that is why it got cleared?" asked Kher. "That means the government threw me out of being the censor board chief as they perceived me as a BJP guy but I thought this posting was given to me because of my track record."