According to television reports, Pahlaj Nihalani has been removed as the chief of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC.) The reports also confirmed that the position will be filled by Prasoon Joshi.
Reports revealed Pahlaj was fired after his censorship on films were criticized and objected to by filmmakers and the audience.
Since January 2015, when Nihalani was appointed, the CBFC’s role has been questioned on several films. Under Nihalani, the CBFC has been criticized and said it was behaving more like a censor board than a certification board.
CBFC refused international award winning films like Ka Bodyscapes and Lipstick Under My Burkha.
Nihalani crossed the line when he demanded the word intercourse be removed from the trailer of Jab Harry Met Sejal. When he was criticized he started a challenge and on a TV channel asked viewers to vote for or against it and if 1 lakh votes are collected in favor of the word the trailer would be released as it is. During this time ‘Sanskari Nihalani’ was trending on Twitter.
The CBFC was making ridiculous demands like ‘Punjab’ should be bleeped in the movie Udta Punjab.
The board went as far as saying films that showed characters consuming alcohol should be rated an A certificate. Prasoon Joshi is a 43 year old lyricist and has replaced Nihalani. The lyricist is known for memorable songs from films like Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and Taare Zameen Par.
Prasoon Joshi is a two time National awardee for best lyrics and in 2015 received a Padma Shri for his work in Arts, Literature and Advertising. After Nihalani’s replacement, it was also reported that Actress Vidya Balan will be on the board of CBFC.
