Pahlaj Nihalani shocked at certain film personalities celebrating his exit
15 Sep 2017
It was a busy Grand-Finale week forPahlajNihalaniwhen as many as 15 Hindi (and that includes a few dubbed Hollywood films) were provided censor certificates before he was asked to leave on Friday evening. The films in the coming weeks that have been provided with a certificate are KrishnaDKand Raj Nidimorus espionage thriller A Gentleman ,GurinderChadhas epic Partition tale Partition 1947 , the highly-anticipated Ryan Reynoldsactioner The HitmansBodguard , a 3-D version of Arnold Schawrzeneggers Terminator 2 ,Amole Guptes eagerly awaited film about a child detective Sniff.Says the exhausted formerCBFCchairperson, The list of films to be cleared for August 18 and August 25 was endless. Never before had we at theCBFCbeen given so many films to view all at once. In factAshwiniIyer Tiwaris BareillyKiBarfi came to us on Thursday and we viewed the film and provided an all-clear U certificate to the film on Friday. Nihalanihad a very special reason for rushing through the certification of BareilliKiBarfi.This is a film co-produced byRenuChopra, the wife of the late filmmaker Ravi Chopra. It is her first attempt at turning an independent producer. I didnt want her film to suffer any delay. Nihalanisays he was surprised to read the same filmmakers whose films he had cleared on priority, rejoicing his ouster. I can understandAnuragKashyapfeeling happy about my departure from theCBFC. He has been openly campaigning against my tenure as the CBFC chairperson. There is no hidden agenda in his malice. Its all out in the open. I believe he has been singing songs after my exit from theCBFC. Glad to bring happiness in his life. But some of the others welcoming the change have been telling me on my face that they had no problem with me at theCBFC. And now they say theyre happy to see me go? Wahkyabaathai.Without taking any names, MrNihalanimentions a recent film in which he had gone out of his way to accommodate the toilet humour. There were derogatory references to caste and community which I couldnt allow. The next thing I heard is that the films hero had complained to the I & B ministry about my high-handedness. God bless him and all the others who are celebrating my departure. The worst jibe post-ouster was onArnabGoswamis show where the abrasive anchor openly ridiculed MrNihalani. I think I replied sufficiently to his taunts.Arnabkept insisting I should say the word intercourse out load. Why should I do what he or anyone else asks me to do? By saying intercourse loudly one becomes a liberal? And for Arnabs information, I had no problem with the word. Intercourse has been allowed in the new Bengali film Dhanonjoy.No, I am not a prude. But I am pragmatic. I know ShahRukhKhans fans are children, and parents wouldnt have liked him talking about intercourse in Jab Harry MetSejal. Let me make one thing clear. TheCBFCguidelines do not stipulate that films should not be cut. Yet I was pressurized from the top to not cut, only certify. The CBFCis a confused organization. We need progressive guidelines. Without them we are stuck in a time-warp.
