Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani sacked, Parsoon Joshi to take charge

New Delhi, August 11

The central government has replaced filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani with songwriter-poet Prasoon Joshi as chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

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Joshi was appointed with immediate effect for a period of three years or until further orders, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry said in a release issued on Friday.

Nihalani’s tenure as head of the CBFC, informally known as the censor board, has been marked by controversies, with several filmmakers and critics accusing him of stifling freedom of expression.

Nihalani was appointed to the board in 2015.

Films such as ‘Aligarh’, ‘Udta Punjab’, ‘Lipstick under my Burkha’, and most recently, ‘Babumoshai Bandookbaaz’, among other movies, have faced the board’s ire under Nihalani’s leadership. PTI/Agencies