The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has been reconstituted by the Centre on Wednesday. Actors Preity Zinta, Pankaj Tripathi, and Suniel Shetty find their names on the 18-member panel. The new board has been constituted with immediate effect for a term of three years, or until further orders.
Meet the new CBFC members
On Wednesday, the Centre reconstituted the CBFC panel. Chairperson Shashi Shekhar Vempati will lead an 18-member panel that includes names like Preity Zinta, Pankaj Tripathi, Suniel Shetty, Pallavi Joshi, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Rupali Ganguly, Priyadarshan, and Ricky Kej, among others. The new panel also includes Nila Madhab Panda, Manoj Joshi, Abhishek Jain, Supriya Yarlagadda, film critic Vinod Anupam, poet and writer Yatindra Mishra, Nishigandha Wad, and singer and former parliamentarian Hansraj Hans. Theatre director Waman Kendre and writer Ramesh Patange are the only two members of the previous board to have been retained in the newly constituted panel.
The previous CBFC members
The CBFC was last reconstituted in August 2017 for a three-year term. Members of the board continued beyond 2020 in the absence of a fresh reconstitution. The provisions allowed them to remain in office till successors are appointed. The outgoing board included Vidya Balan, Vivek Agnihotri, former footballer Mihir Bhutia, Gautami Tadimalla, Vani Tripathi Tikoo, Jeevitha Rajasekhar, T S Nagabharana and Naresh Chandra Lal, besides Kendre and Patange.
Criticism for CBFC’s outgoing members
{{/usCountry}}The CBFC was last reconstituted in August 2017 for a three-year term. Members of the board continued beyond 2020 in the absence of a fresh reconstitution. The provisions allowed them to remain in office till successors are appointed. The outgoing board included Vidya Balan, Vivek Agnihotri, former footballer Mihir Bhutia, Gautami Tadimalla, Vani Tripathi Tikoo, Jeevitha Rajasekhar, T S Nagabharana and Naresh Chandra Lal, besides Kendre and Patange.
Criticism for CBFC’s outgoing members
{{/usCountry}}The CBFC has faced considerable criticism recently for the way it has censored films. When Tom Holland and Zendaya’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day was released in India in July, it received a UA 13 certification. A brief kissing scene was cut, and a source told ANI, “In compliance with the Cinematograph Act and Rules, this eight-second scene was found to be inappropriate for children below the age of 13 and was excised.” The CBFC received criticism for being overly particular about what it included or cut from films.
Before that, the CBFC made news when H Vinoth’s Tamil film Jana Nayagan, starring Vijay, Mamitha Baiju, Bobby Deol and Pooja Hegde, did not release as planned in January for Pongal. But the film was postponed at the last minute when the examining committee sent it to a revising committee following a complaint from a member. The filmmakers received no relief from the courts and had to wait till July to finally release the film in theatres. Jana Nayagan leaked online in April in HD print, and numerous arrests were made.
With inputs from agencies
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