Pahlaj Nihalani moves court against CBFC; says that the Examining Committee deliberately pointed out things in his film which weren’t against guidelines
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 6, 2018)

Soon after being replaced as chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) by Prasoon Joshi in August 2017, Pahlaj Nihalani grabbed headlines with his decision to present Deepak Shivdasani’s ‘bold, beautiful and blessed’ Julie 2, which featured actress Raai Laxmi as a simple girl rising to be a superstar. The filmmaker had insisted that the film be given an ‘A’ certificate without any cuts because there was no “vulgarity, obscenity or even a language problem” in it. It was cleared with an adult certificate, without cuts.

Around the middle of this year, Pahlaj started shooting for his next production titled Rangeela Raja. Reportedly based on the life of liquor baron Vijay Mallya, it had Govinda in the lead. The duo has previously collaborated on three films — Aankhen, Shola Aur Shabnam and Ilzaam. Their fourth film is up for release on November 16 and on Monday, Pahlaj filed a petition against the CBFC after the latter suggested 20 cuts.

Justifying his stand, he told Mirror, “I had applied for certification 42–43 days ago. As per the rule, they have to see the film within 21 days, but the screening finally happened on November 2 after films like Thugs of Hindostan which had applied after me, were cleared,” he said.

He further added that the cuts too are also not according to guidelines. “My film is a comedy family drama revolving around a colourful personality, but not a single scene in the film is objectionable,” he argued, reminding one that objections can be raised to cuss words, double meaning dialogues, scenes showing torture of women and child abuse, sex and violence. “My film has none of all this. There is one dialogue, ‘Jab jab Raavan Sita ka haran karega, tab tab Ram ka saath nibhane ke liye Hanuman aayega’ and they want me to edit this as it could hurt religious sentiments. Why should it? I have taken Ram’s name in a positive light,” he said.

Another dialogue in the film goes “Ratri ke samay tum Arjun ki tarah teer leke ghar se bahar ja rahe ho.” Pahlaj is at pains to point out that there is no double meaning inherent in the line. In another scene Govinda’s character is tapping a girl’s hip. “It’s just a dance move, there is nothing vulgar about it. The shot was cleared for the song which we recently released, but they have an objection to it being shown in the film,” said a disbelieving Pahlaj, reminding you that he has been on the “hot seat of a Chairperson” and is aware of what is right and wrong.

“After me they are projecting the Censor Board as being very liberal but in Stree they passed a scene where a father is advising his son to use his hand to relieve his sexual frustration. That’s fine with the board but in my film when a husband tells his wife ‘lene ka dene padh jayenge’ they have a problem with it,” said the filmmaker adding that this is the first time after making 25 films that he has got so many “drastic cuts”.

Why didn’t he go to the Revising Committee before moving court? “The Chairman has to perform his duties in office and Prasoon is not available and a regional officer is doing the job for him. It’s his responsibility to constitute a Revising Committee if something is not agreeable, but I’m told he had instructed the Examining Committee to see my movie with binoculars and they have purposely pointed out things which are far from objectionable. This is injustice. I will not take such drastic cuts,” he thundered.

Mirror texted Prasoon but he didn’t respond. Regional Officer Tusshar Karmarkar said he was in a screening and could talk only after 8 pm but after that did not take our calls or respond to texts.