Producer believes it's because of differences between Pahlaj Nihalani and director Chandraprakash Dwivedi.
MUMBAI MIRROR (April 8, 2016)

The Examining Committee (EC) of the Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has banned its own board member Dr Chandraprakash Diwedi's controversial film Mohalla Assi which ridicules the commercialisation of the holy city of Varanasi.

The Sunny Deol-Sakshi Tanwar-starrer was leaked online in July 2015, long before it was submitted for certification. The trailer, which was released in June, 2015, was laced with cuss words like chu***a, bh*$%od amongst others and featured an explicit sex scene.

Sunny plays a self-righteous priest fighting against the ecological and moral pollution of Varanasi. The story, based on the well-known Hindi novel, Kashi Ka Assi, by Dr Kashinath Singh, is a scathing critique on the changes that has made the city home to prostitutes, frauds, liars and conmen.

When the film was shown to the EC this week, it evoked extreme reactions from some of the members within the CBFC and was refused a certificate.

Diwedi refused to comment saying he was a member of the Censor Board, but Ashoke Pandit, another member of the Board, said, "The CBFC can suggest cuts or certify a film as 'U', 'U/A' or 'A', but they cannot refuse it a certificate. But what else can you expect from a Chairman (Pahlaj Nihalani) who gives a 'U/A' certificate to a children's film, The Jungle Book. This is an insult to a National Award wining filmmaker of the calibre of Chadraprakash Diwedi and the film industry in general."

Vinay Tiwari, the film's producer, confirmed that the EC had refused him a certificate and informed that they are waiting for them to offer a reason for this which they have promised by Friday before approaching the Tribunal directly. "We don't want to go to the Revising Committee (RC) because a couple of months earlier, after our trailer was rejected by the EC, we had approached the RC. Pahlajji had watched it himself and rejected it again. So there's no point going to the RC. I believe that what is happening is because of the differences between Pahalji and Chardraprakash Dwivedi," he concluded.