KARACHI: The new chairman of the Sindh Board of Film Censors, Fakhr-e-Alam, announced ambitious plans for the SBFC at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday.

The well-known TV personality said that his first priority was to remove the word ‘censor’ from the name of the SBFC and have it renamed as the Sindh Film Certification Board and Development Authority. Next up he said would be to introduce various categories of film certification. “Right now there are only two categories U and A, but we need to introduce a proper rating system such as PG-13, PG-15 and PG-18,” he said.

Despite his busy schedule with business concerns in seven countries, Mr Alam said he had no plans of becoming a symbolic office-holder and would ensure that the national anthem was played before every film screening in multiplexes.

“Let me make it clear, I am not going to be a decoration chairman and I will do something to have the national anthem played in digital cinemas [as well).”He added that he was keen to make changes to the Sindh Motion Pictures Act, 2011 as many of the provisions in the Act were outdated and vague. “The penalties are not severe enough if violations are committed. Also there is no mention of new film formats such as Blu-ray discs, DVD and others in the Act.”

His other plans for the film censor board included reining in the cable operators who were playing films that were uncensored and pirated, and if they did not comply, Mr Alam said he would have formed an enforcement team of sorts in every locality to check the illegal workings of cable operators and report to his office so that appropriate action could be taken.

About reconstitution of the SBFC, Mr Alam said that since he had just taken charge (according to his official twitter account falamb3, he took official charge on Sept 17), he had asked his staff to give him a report about the members of the SBFC and would have to see if it needed to be reconstituted.

He added that he would like the members of the SBFC to work on a rotational basis when censoring films.

Regarding the lack of a film screening room on the SBFC premises, Mr Alam said he was planning to work on a proposal of a physical structure under a public-private partnership that would comprise a screening room, SBFC offices and a film institute.