I&B minister to meet Censor Board members after complaints against chief

I&B minister Rajyavardhan Rathore to meet Censor Board members following complaints against its chief Pahlaj Nihalani

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore is likely to fly down to Mumbai next week to meet Censor Board members, who are said to be unhappy with chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani.

Pahlaj Nihalani

Filmmaker and Board member Ashoke Pandit says Nihalani's diktats were supported neither by logic nor law. “He also doesn't appreciate the intelligence of the filmmaker and the audience. He functions like an archaic monarch treating Censor Board like his own fiefdom,” he rues.

Pandit alleges, “Nihalani personally views every film, overriding every rule in the book and calling filmmakers to his cabin who are expected to bow to his diktats.”

In spite of a collective decision to put the ban on cuss words in abeyance till the Board's next meeting, Nihalani did not honour it, alleged members. Indian Motion Picture Producers Association has also written to the minister about the problems their members were facing in the present scenario.

A case in point is Anushka Sharma's film, 'NH10', which releases today after undergoing nearly 16 cuts.  Some cuss words that were muted or bleeped out include behen****, chu****, kutti, ghanta, f***, r**nd, g**nd, m***rjaat, teri maa ki, teri bhen ki and bhos** ke.

A board member, who is also a filmmaker, has written to the Censor Board CEO's office demanding an urgent meeting to resolve the ban on cuss words and functioning of the Board. The member has taken strong exception to Nihalani presiding over the revising committee of the same film.

The members also have issues with Hollywood films not being cleared for Indian audiences. It is alleged Warner Bros recently decided against releasing their film Get Hard in India.

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