New Delhi: The simmering discontent within the censor board against its chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani appears to have reached boiling point.
Sources in the Central Board of Film Certification said some members were planning to get Nihalani “ousted” after he repeatedly ignored their demands for an urgent meeting to discuss the board’s “state of affairs”.
S. Ve Shekhar, a veteran Tamil actor, said things had come to a head. “The government appointed nine members in January, including Nihalani, and four more members were appointed last month,” he said today.
“However, the way Nihalani has been treating everybody shows that he believes he is above all. This cannot be tolerated.”
Shekhar claimed Nihalani had “pressurised” him into certifying a Tamil film on a holiday when it came up for revision, as the producer was a “friend” of the chairperson. “The way things are, it looks like he (Nihalani) has no respect for any chair except for his own.”
Nihalani had earlier angered some of his fellow censors by his decisions, which they called arbitrary. He had kicked off his tenure by preparing a now-withdrawn list of 28 banned cuss words. He had also irked the film industry over cuts in actress Anushka Sharma’s maiden production venture, NH10. In March, some prominent board members had met junior I&B minister Rajyavardhan Rathore and demanded that Nihalani be reined in.
A member, who did not want to be named, said: “Over the past five months, there has been one board meeting and our demand for a second meeting is being totally ignored. So we have now decided that whenever the next meeting is held, we will pass a resolution against the chairman and send it to the government.”
A ministry official said: “The board is free to send us any proposal but they cannot remove anybody unless the government notifies it.”
However, a third board member said they couldn’t remain part of a body that had become “the kingdom of a mad tyrant”.
Board CEO Shravan Kumar said the “onus” of calling a meeting at least once every three months lay solely with the chairperson.
When approached, Nihalani said: “I don’t know why some members have made it into a personal fight against me. I will definitely call a meeting when I feel the need.”
