Pahalaj Nihalani removed as CBFC chief, Prasoon Joshi to replace him

Pahlaj Nihalani, who has invited a lot of controversies ever since he was appointed as the chairman of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), has been removed. Noted lyricist Prasoon Joshi will take charge as the new chief of central film certification body.

From objecting to the word ‘intercourse’ in Jab Harry Met Sejal trailer to calling Lipstick Under My Burkha too ‘lady oriented’, Nihalani irked movie buffs all over the country. He was even mocked as a ‘Sanskari’ Censor Board Chief.

In a James Bond movie – Spectre – he had called for the removal of a kissing scene. He also asked for the removal of Punjab from the movie Udta Punjab’s title. That is not all, though. Nihalani also demanded the words ‘Gujarat’ and ‘cow’ be removed from an Amartya Sen documentary.

[ecp code=”4″]

“He was definitely not good for the film industry. Many directors and producers were very unhappy with Nihalani’s work,” a source told Indianexpress.com.

On the other hand, writer-poet and advertising entrepreneur Prasoon Joshi is a well known name in the industry. He was awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2015, for his contributions towards the field of Arts, Literature and Advertising

Joshi has received the ‘Filmfare Best Lyricist Award’ three times, in 2007 and 2008 and again in 2014 for the Hindi movie ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’. He has also received the National Film Award for ‘Best Lyrics’ twice, for his work in ‘Taare Zameen Par’ (2007), and ‘Chittagong’ (2013).