Pahlaj Nihalani has been removed as Central Board of Film Certification's chairman. Prasoon Joshi, the famous Bollywood lyricist and ad guru, will be succeeding him.
“Yes, it is correct. Pahlaj Nihalani had to resign from his chairmanship. Recently there was a lot of friction in the working of the CBFC.", CBFC member and filmmaker Ashok Pandit told Indian Express.
His tenure riddled with controversies has been cited as one major reason behind his replacement. It was during his stint as the chairman that movies like Aligarh, Udta Punjab, Unfreedom, Ka Bodyscape, Lipstick Under My Burkha, Indu Sarkar and Babumoshai Bandookbaaz went through multiple cuts.
Director Alankrita Shrivastava had even managed to win her case after challenging the censor board at an appeals tribunal.
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Pahlaj Nihalani was 14 when his career kicked off as a as a small-time distributor. He produced his first film in 1982 named Haathkadi. This was followed by Aandhi-Toofan in 1985. And came his third film Ilzaam in 1986, which is known forbeing actor Govinda's debut.
In 1975, he started his own distribution company and started producing films. Shola Aur Shabnam, Dil Tera Deewana, Aankhen and Andaaz are some of the blockbusters that came off it. Before he was appointed chairperson of CBFC, Nihalani produced BJP’s campaign video for the 2014 general elections, Har Har Modi, Ghar Ghar Modi.
In January 2015, Pahlaj Nihalani was appointed to head the board. He was recently in news for objecting to the word "intercourse" in the Shah Rukh Khan film When Harry Met Sejal. He also received a lot of flak for his decision to bleep words like "cow" and "Hindu India" in a documentary on economist and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had informed him last month that he could be replaced. His three-year
tenure was to get over in January.
Pic credits: NDTV
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