A film censorship committee has voted unanimously to approve for screening a controversial Thai film about a Buddhist novice but rated it 18+ after a recut and a voluntary name change.
Sahamongol Film International, the producer of the film orginally named Arbat, reportedly "improved" the content and changed its name to Arpat after another censorship committee banned it from local screening early this week, Thai media reported on Friday.
With the approval, the film was to start screening at 8pm on Friday.
The committee found some scenes showed disrespect to Buddhism and inappropriate behaviour by monks, which it said could upset and negatively influence viewers.
At a meeting on Friday of another censorship committee, religious experts and members of the old committee were invited to compare the two versions.
After 2½ hours, the five-member committee voted unanimously for its screening and rated it 18+ for viewers aged 18 or over.
Sombat Pookarn, the chairman of the committee, said there were no longer any controversial scenes in the recut version and the monk who had been invited to join the previous committee agreed. A total of two minutes were removed from the film.
"The content now focuses on monks and ghosts. It's about a teenager who was ordained against his will. He violated Buddhist rules and finally paid for it. The film shows us what happens when a bad person enters monkhood," said Mr Sombat.
"The committee therefore agreed to let the 86-minute film be screened locally in its entirety."
Mr Sombat stressed the screening was permitted only under the new name — Arpat. The definition of the new name is not in the official Thai dictionary while the old name Arbat means religious punishment for those who have violated Buddhist rules. The director explained earlier that the new name was Pali but the meaning was the same.
"The producer or anyone who screens the film under the original Arbat name or shows the banned version will violate Sections 77 and 78 of the law on movies and videos. The violator will be subjected to a fine of 200,000 to 1 million baht while the producer will face a jail term of one year and a fine of 100,000 baht," Mr Sombat warned.
"Personally, I think that while it's a controversial film, it portrays karma and teaches people a lesson," he added.
Pratya Pinkaew, the director of the film, said he would change the posters to show the new name as soon as possible.
"We didn't set a revenue target but now that it has drawn so much publicity, we estimate we could earn at least 30 million baht, the break-even level of the film," he told Thai Rath Online.