Zee Media Bureau/Deepak Nagpal
New Delhi: Amid the controversy over Doordarshan`s censorship of Narendra Modi`s interview, it has come to light that the national broadcaster recently nixed a docu-drama on the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi – the Father of the Nation.
A leading English daily Thursday reported that the 52-episode series would have largely focussed on Nathuram Godse`s trial. This, the Prasar Bharati board felt, was likely to be "inflammatory`` in nature.
Following Prasar Bharati`s concerns, director-producer duo Ketan Mehta and Deepa Sahi shelved the plans to go ahead with the docu-drama. The reason they cited was `time constraints`, the daily reported.
It has been reported that at a Prasar Bharati board meeting in January, members expressed concerns that it would be going too far if the series focussed only on Gandhi`s assassination for as many as 52 episodes.
The newspaper quoted the Prasar Bharati board`s observations as: "Considering the subject matter spans a relatively short period in the life of Mahatma Gandhi, the proposed number of episodes (52) appear to be on the higher side and could be judiciously pruned. Since material on the trial of Nathuram Godse is likely to be inflammatory in nature, focusing the programme on the trial is avoidable...It was felt that the theme of the proposed program could be woven around the various events that happened during the last days of Mahatma including Independence, partition, Noakhali tragedy etc."
The board had also proposed the constitution of a panel to look into the matter and also have discussions with the director-duo.
