‘Corruption happened right under Prasoon Joshi’s nose’: Pahlaj Nihalani said – Chairman never comes to office; Filmmaker said- House sold because of CBFC

Prasoon Joshi is currently the chairman of CBFC. Pahlaj Nihalani was on this post before him. Pahlaj has reprimanded Prasun in the case involving actor Vishal.

Tamil actor Vishal on Thursday accused CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification) Mumbai officials of taking bribe. Everyone in the industry is shocked by his shocking statement.

Former Censor Board Chairman Pahlaj Nihalani said that today corruption is happening on a large scale in CBFC. All this is happening under the cognizance of Board CEO Ravindra Bhakar. Pahlaj said that the current chairman of the Censor Board, Prasoon Joshi, never goes to office. They get the files at home and check them.

The whole matter is related to Tamil actor Vishal’s film Mark Antony. He alleges that to get the Hindi version of this film passed by the censor, he had to pay a bribe of Rs 6.5 lakh to the officials sitting in Mumbai.

We have also spoken to two producer-directors, including the former chairman of the Censor Board, to get more and accurate information in this regard. We sought clarification in this regard from Censor Board Chairman Prasoon Joshi, CEO Ravindra Bhakar and Mumbai Censor Board Regional Officer Mahesh Patil, but have not received their response yet.

CBFC has become a den of corrupt people– Pahlaj Nihalani
Former Censor Board Chairman Pahlaj Nihalani exclusively told Dainik Bhaskar, ‘Everything is happening right under the nose of Prasoon Joshi. An anti-corruption committee should be formed to investigate this. Everyone from top to bottom is sold out. There are many such cases, not just one.

CBFC has become a den of corrupt people. Officials have become habituated to taking money. They think that film stars earn so much money, so what if they get a little bit. He knows that no film will be released without his signature.

This happened with a big actor like Vishal, what will be the condition of small producers?
This has happened with another Kannada film. I had also reported this to CEO Ravindra Bhakar. However, no response has come yet. The government should immediately intervene in this matter and change the entire body. Vishal is a big actor, when this is happening openly with him then what would be the condition of small producers. ,

Pahlaj Nihalani was the chairman of the Censor Board between 2015 and 2017.

Prasun Joshi should resign
Pahlaj Nihalani further said, ‘When the elder of the family is not at home, then such things will definitely come to light. Prasoon Joshi never comes to office. Because of this the board officials have become autocratic. Prasoon Joshi is completely responsible for this. He should resign from his post. These people exploit the producers.

I even drank water in this office with my own money. If there was pressure on me, I would have been ready to resign straightaway. I did not accept interference from any outsider in my office.

Prasoon Joshi became the chairman of CBFC in 2017.

Everything was sold door to door to get the film passed – Producer Atul Pandey
Another producer Atul Pandey says that the Censor Board officials did a lot of wrong to him too. His two crore rupees were lost. Atul said, ‘I had made a film Mani Devo Bhava.

The censor board was giving A certificate to this film of mine. In fact, there was nothing in that film that warranted giving it an A certificate. My film was made in 2013, but it took two years to get the certificate.

In these two years everything of mine was sold. Only 15 thousand rupees were left in my hand. Two crore rupees were spent in making the film, the interest on it had increased to Rs 6.5 crore.

Atul further said, ‘The brokers have dominance inside the Censor Board. Whatever films reach the board, they get to know about it immediately. They start contacting the producers. They take money and pass the dirty films, the films of poor small producers are left behind. Without middlemen, not a single film can be passed there.

Censor Board’s attitude is not right – Director Amit Rai
We also saw a dispute between Akshay Kumar’s film OMG-2 and the censor board a few months ago. The board kept the film on hold for several weeks. Later it was passed with A certificate with many cuts.

Since this film was based on a sensitive issue like sex education, the makers wanted children between 13 to 18 years to watch it. However, this was not possible after getting A certificate.

The film’s director Amit Rai was very unhappy. We tried to contact them also. We wanted to know what conversation took place between him and the censor board.

Amit said, ‘I am very saddened by the behavior of the Censor Board, there is no doubt about it. However, I cannot say anything in matters like corruption. Yes, it is true that I have suffered the consequences of others’ mistakes. The last few films came on which there was a lot of controversy. Because of that the Censor Board cut off our film. He was afraid that the public might tear his clothes.

OMG-2 was released on 11 August.

It is our loss in fighting the censor board.
Amit further said, ‘There is exploitation in the censor board. If they say that we will not pass your film or will cut it, what will you do? We can’t fight them. It is our loss to go to court.

If cases like corruption are coming up then the people sitting at the top should definitely think about it. It is quite sad to see cases of corruption.

Now understand the whole matter
While sharing a video, Vishal said that the officers sitting in the Mumbai office of CBFC demanded a bribe of Rs 6.5 lakh to pass the censor certificate of the Hindi version of his latest film ‘Mark Antony’.

Vishal said that it is okay to show corruption on the silver screen but it cannot be digested in real life.

Vishal said that he had no other option because a lot is at stake on this film. He said, ‘I had to pay Rs 6.5 lakh in two transactions for the Hindi version of my film Mark Antony. Out of this, I gave Rs 3 lakh for the screening of the film and Rs 3.5 lakh for the certificate. read full news,