Pahlaj Nihalani
Former CBFC chief and filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani moves the Bombay High Court after Prasoon Joshi led censor board ordered 20 cuts in his Govinda starrer production venture Rangeela Raja. Nihalani called the cuts unjustified and asked for the sacking of Joshi. Nihalani hopes that the High Court will give relief to him as the HC has given to other filmmakers during his tenure.
''CBFC has ordered too many cuts in my film. They have given UA certificate to Rangeela Raja. So, I have moved the High Court for relief. They have not followed any guidelines. I have been a part of the CBFC and I have been a film director and producer. I have never made films which would have anything worth a cut. Why this film? These cuts are unjustified and uncalled for,'' Nihalani was quoted by indianexpress.com.
Nihalani said when he issued cuts, people thought it was unreasonable. ''I hope, just as other films have got justice, the High Court will give me some relief too. They have given relief to filmmakers who had moved the High Court when the CBFC had ordered cuts in my tenure. We used to follow guidelines, and still people thought we did it unreasonably,'' Nihalani said.
He claimed Prasoon Joshi doesn't visit his office and is always travelling. He asked the government to sack him. ''Prasoon Joshi doesn’t even go to the office, in his absence, the proxy chairman is clearing films from all over the country. The chairman is supposed to see what films are getting cleared and which ones are not, but here the chairman is always travelling and doesn’t sit in office. This is illegal and the government should sack him,'' he said.
For those unversed, Pahlaj Nihalani had a controversial tenure as CBFC chief. From banning Lipstick Under My Burkha to imposing 89 cuts in Udta Punjab and 48 cuts in Babumoshai Bandookbaaz, filmmakers accused him of 'throttling' the cinematic art.
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