Former chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) Pahlaj Nihalani has lashed out at the current CBFC chief Prasoon Joshi after Tamil actor and producer Vishal accused the censor board of extorting Rs 6.5 lakh from him in order to greenlight the Hindi version of his film Mark Antony.
Supporting Vishal‘s claims, Pahlajtold AajTak that he is of the opinion that Prasoon Joshi should resign for the welfare of the industry.He said that Prasoon is not able to give time and does not sit in the chairman’s office. He claimed that Prasoon has given all the power to the CO whose job is simply to look after the administration. “If he is not able to give time, then he has no right to continue sitting on that chair,” Pahlaj quipped, adding that what is happening in the censor board office is very shameful.
He then went on to reveal that this trend of corruption in CBFC has been going on for a long time. “I get messages from many producers, they say that ‘if you were there sir, we would not have had any problem, but as it is now, nothing happens without money’. People don’t even watch movies,” Pahlaj said.
After these complaints, Pahlaj said he had asked the concerned member of CBFC to understand the seriousness of the matter. He then recalled that he has an acquaintance who had made a Kannada film and he was also deferred for the certificate of Hindi dub. After getting the money, his film was given a certificate.
“Corruption is happening so openly here. Now let’s see that many producers and directors will come forward and express their plight,” he added.
Detailing the whole thing that transpired in a Twitter post, Vishal mentioned the name of the person who asked him for the money to give him the green light, saying that Rs 3 lakh was for screening and Rs 3.5 for issuing the certificate. He appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to immediately crack down on this whole corruption scandal.
The Central government immediately took notice of this with the Ministry for Information and Broadcasting issuing a statement on their Twitter account, stating, “The issue of corruption in CBFC brought forth by actor @VishalKOfficial is extremely unfortunate. The Government has zero tolerance for corruption and strictest action will be taken against anyone found involved.A senior officer from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has been deputed to Mumbai to conduct an inquiry today itself.”
Supporting Vishal‘s claims, Pahlajtold AajTak that he is of the opinion that Prasoon Joshi should resign for the welfare of the industry.He said that Prasoon is not able to give time and does not sit in the chairman’s office. He claimed that Prasoon has given all the power to the CO whose job is simply to look after the administration. “If he is not able to give time, then he has no right to continue sitting on that chair,” Pahlaj quipped, adding that what is happening in the censor board office is very shameful.
He then went on to reveal that this trend of corruption in CBFC has been going on for a long time. “I get messages from many producers, they say that ‘if you were there sir, we would not have had any problem, but as it is now, nothing happens without money’. People don’t even watch movies,” Pahlaj said.
After these complaints, Pahlaj said he had asked the concerned member of CBFC to understand the seriousness of the matter. He then recalled that he has an acquaintance who had made a Kannada film and he was also deferred for the certificate of Hindi dub. After getting the money, his film was given a certificate.
“Corruption is happening so openly here. Now let’s see that many producers and directors will come forward and express their plight,” he added.
Detailing the whole thing that transpired in a Twitter post, Vishal mentioned the name of the person who asked him for the money to give him the green light, saying that Rs 3 lakh was for screening and Rs 3.5 for issuing the certificate. He appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to immediately crack down on this whole corruption scandal.
The Central government immediately took notice of this with the Ministry for Information and Broadcasting issuing a statement on their Twitter account, stating, “The issue of corruption in CBFC brought forth by actor @VishalKOfficial is extremely unfortunate. The Government has zero tolerance for corruption and strictest action will be taken against anyone found involved.A senior officer from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has been deputed to Mumbai to conduct an inquiry today itself.”
