Sonu Sood: I support the decisions Pahlaj Nihalani took during his tenure

Actor Sonu Sood has come out in support of Pahlaj Nihalani, who was recently removed from his position as the chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

While most of Bollywood is celebrating the removal of filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani as the Censor Board chief, actor Sonu Sood has come out in his support. Sonu, who has been in the industry for over 15 years now, says he had a great experience working with Nihalani. “I truly respect Pahlaj ji. Some people might have had creative issues with him, but I feel that when an individual is given a position and the power to take decisions, we should respect that,” said Sonu, who was in Delhi recently, to watch his team in action in the Super Boxing League.

Actor Sonu Sood says that he had a great experience working with ex-Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani . (Aalok Soni/HT Photo)

His comments come at a time when several members of the film fraternity, including filmmakers Anurag Kashyap, Shirish Kunder and actors Sidharth and Tahir Raj Bhasin, have welcomed Nihalani’s replacement with lyricist Prasoon Joshi. Bollywood has, of late, been extremely critical of the kind of cuts Nihalani demanded in films during his tenure,including his decisions of not certifying certain films altogether.

Sonu, however, says he still supports Nihalani. “People have different experiences with the same person. For me, he was a great help, and I will always respect him for that.” Asked if the kind of controversial decisions Pahlaj took, such as the more recent demand of replacing the word ‘intercourse’ from the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Jab Harry Met Sejal, were justified, the 44-year old says, “I am not the right person to answer that. A huge respectable body had given him that position to decide and the same people have now got another person (Prasoon Joshi). But whatever he did in his tenure, I am totally with him on that front.”