CBFC member Ashoke Pandit, among the loudest critics of Nihalani, has also been dropped from the board with immediate effect.
The decision follows the assessment in the government that Nihalani was attracting unwarranted controversy over decisions relating to cuts in films and the board had become a source of harassment for filmmakers. The board was seen as obstructionist rather than a facilitator and its decisions were being seen as having the government’s backing.
Nihalani is understood to have been sounded out about his replacement a few weeks back and did not take the news well. The government has been keen on ensuring a smooth transition and on Friday finally reconstituted the censor board. TOI had first reported the move to replace Nihalani on July 25.
The board now comprises Bollywood actor Vidya Balan, Tamil actors Gautami Tadimalla and Jeevitha Rajashekhar, author Narendra Kohli, director-producer Naresh Chandra Lal and Vivek Agnihotri, award-winning concert pianist and Hindi music director Neil Herbert Nongkynrih, National School of Drama director Waman Kendre, Kannada film director T S Nagabharana, and dialogue-writer Mihir Bhuta as members. The ministry also appointed RSS ideologue Ramesh Patange and former BJP secretary and theatre artist Vani Tripathi Tikoo as CBFC members of three-year tenures.
Nihalani was seen on his way out following a meeting of Board members in Thiruvananthpuram in July. Sources in the ministry said Nihalani’s removal follows several months of feedback received by the information and broadcasting ministry from the film industry, which cited sustained harassment at the hands of the CBFC chief. The industry also suggested that Nihalani, as chief of the film certification board, had showed a propensity to be censor with a heavy hand.
The ministry was “very uncomfortable” with Nihalani’s recent attempts to monopolise the Board’s activities when faced by opposition from within. This, along with the embarrassment he caused to the government resulted in the ministry seeking the PMO’s sanction to send Nihalani packing, and bring in Prasoon Joshi, who enjoys considerable credibility within the industry, as a replacement.
Seen as capable of protecting the ethos of Indian cinema, Joshi also enjoys the image of being a government sympathiser. The lyricist and advertising specialist had worked on BJP’s election campaign during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He had also kept clear of the film industry’s ‘intolerance brigade’ which attacked the NDA government on issues like FTII, and for a ban on AIB, among other things.
Director Kushan Nandy, whose film ‘Babumoshai Bandookbaaz’ was recently awarded 48 cuts by the Censor Board, spoke to TOI about Nihalani’s dismissal. Nandy had written to I&B minister Smriti Irani to air his grievance, especially after board members made offensive personal remarks to producer Kiran Shyam Shroff’s face during a meeting on June 28.
Nandy said, “This (the dismissal) is a positive step. It makes me feel that the government, the people who are authorised to take action, have finally done so. But this is not the final solution. It does not mean happy days are here again. The fact remains that the (Cinematograph) Act that is being read dates back to 1952. It is a 65-year-old Act that is ambiguous and leaves room for interpretation. So somebody who is arrogant, like Nihalani, can sit in the Censor chief’s chair and play God and interpret the Act in his own way.”
Nandy also said CBFC is a certifying body, not one that can instruct people what to watch what not to watch.
Source : timesofindia
