Delhi: I&B ministry officials is not taking any move to eject CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani who has been blamed for several controversies recently

I&B ministry officials have ruled out any move to remove Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) chief Pahlaj Nihalani who has been dogged by several controversies recently. Nihalani’s work shows no major departure from the way the board has functioned in previous years, official data shows.

Out of 2,174 movies that came up for clearance at CBFC since Nihalani took charge in January 2014, 2,124 were cleared at the initial examining stage, according to the CBFC data. This data, which has also been sent to I&B ministry, shows 50 movies were sent to examining committee of the Censor Board for review. Four out of these movies were sent to Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) which didn’t clear one film.

CBFC chief Nihalani watched and reviewed only 10 out of these 50 movies, which didn’t include Spectre, the latest James Bond movie that had undergone cuts recently, owing to a kissing scene, an official said. The number of movies cleared every year from 2010 to 2014 when the UPA-appointed Censor Board was in charge, was similar to that of cleared under Nihalani, the official said, adding that this indicates no change in the working pattern of the board.

Ministry officials said they have received complaints from some CBFC members about Nihalani’s autocratic ways of working. Though the ministry has officially denied interfering in the Censor Board controversy, CBFC officials said it was trying to ensure the board worked in a unified way.

MoS (I&B) Rajyavardhan Rathore had recently asked the CBFC board members to work as one team, asserting that the Censor Board should not be used to promote just one person’s ideology.

Nihalani told ET that “only movie that was denied clearance by the CBFC was also rejected by the tribunal.” “It was a movie with a lot of badly made sex scenes. It was bound to be rejected. I have only followed the CBFC rules in my tenure,” he said.

CBFC members, however, say Nihalani watched all movies that came for clearance in his room.

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