Pahlaj Nihalani, in a no-holds barred interview with Lehren TV, blamed I&B Minister Smriti Irani for his exit from the Central Board of Film Certification.
“Smriti Irani always likes to make her presence felt wherever she goes. In the I&B Ministry, is there a bigger story than me? A few days before my exit, she asked me why I did not pass Indu Sarkar without any cuts. And then, I learnt from the media that I was sacked from my post. The news of my appointed as the CBFC chief too I learnt from the media.”
Nihalani seems to think that his refusal to pass Indu Sarkar and Lipstick Under My Burkha played a major role in his exit, five months before the end of his tenure.
“I don’t think Ekta Kapoor (producer of Lipstick…) had anything to do with my exit. But, the roles I played in the censor process of both films certainly influenced Irani’s decision,” he told journalist Bharathi S Pradhan.
Nihalani also claimed that Lipstick Under My Burkha would have been a no-show without all the controversy around it. He seemed to suggest that director Anurag Kashyap also used the controversies with the CBFC to make sure that some of his smaller films would gain publicity and do well at the box office. He believes that Kashyap re-inserted an already deleted profanity into Gangs Of Wasseypur, after the film was cleared for screening by the CBFC.
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The controversial former CBFC chief said that he’d gone out of his way to help several films before, but that none of these things made it to the news. “The Home Ministry asked me to ban Bajrangi Bhaijaan because they feared a law and order problem. I personally made an effort to make sure the film releases. I wrote three letters to the ministry in which I advocated for the film, and finally made sure it released.”
Nihalani also claimed that he was asked by the Centre to ban Udta Punjab. In his two and odd year as CBFC chief, Nihalani faced the most criticism and backlash for his actions during the certification of Udta Punjab. “We faced pressure from all sides to ban the film. But, we still passed it,” he told Pradhan.
Early on, Nihalani said that he was feeling relaxed now that he no longer had the burden of leading the CBFC.
Here is the full interview:
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