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New Censor Board chief clamps down on abusive dialogues and violence, will revive workshops for members
Subhash K Jha (DNA; January 28, 2015)

Pahlaj Nihalani, the new chairperson of the Censor Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) is adamant to clean up films, and make censorship a quick, clean and unquestionable exercise in moral policing. Says Pahlaj, “I am definitely going to change the way films are censored, so that once a film is given certificate there is no controversy or doubts about its credibility. There will be accountability and no room for ambiguity in the censoring process.”

Follow Guidelines
He says the guidelines for censoring were not followed properly. “The do’s and don’ts were always very clearly laid out for the CBFC members. But they were never properly implemented. Board members were frequently clueless about the guidelines. One can’t blame them. They are supposed to undergo workshops periodically to be updated with the rules of their job. They never had workshops. Out of a 100-jury member only 15 did their jobs properly. They were doing their censoring jobs by groping in the dark. Hence the contradictions and charges of double standards.”

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
The new censor chief intends to bring in censorship members from every walk of life. “We’ll have professionals from every field — medicine, law, academics, science. Every section of society and every religious creed will be represented. We’ll also have a Maulana on the censor panel.” Pahlaj intends to implement a uniform code of conduct regarding verbal and visual violence in films. he adds, “There are lakhs of jobless youngsters specially in the smaller towns. What are you telling them when you show your hero mouthing expletives and killing people?

NO CUSSING PLEASE
He continues, “I don’t think civilised people from any culture use the maa-bahen language in their everyday conversation. I know because during election campaigns I’ve travelled to the remotest corners of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.” Pahlaj also feels strongly about the redundancy of violence in our films. “I know we live in a violent times. But that doesn’t mean our cinema has to revel in gore and bloodshed.”

NaMo Namo
He is unapologetic about being seen as Narendra Modi’s follower. “When have I denied being an admirer of Namo’s politics? But I’d like to think I’ve been chosen to do the job of the CBFC’s chairperson because of my 33 years of experience as a producer. I understand the pain and sweat that goes into making a film. At the same time, I also know how much of the violence and abuse that’s claimed as essential can actually be done away with.”