Bollywood Rejoices; Pahlaj's Ban Revoked

The film industry is celebrating. Censor board's new Chairman Pahlaj Nihalani's ban on cuss words has been kept on hold until further notice. 

SpotboyE.com has it that Pahlaj's workshop for the panel members at NFDC (Worli) scheduled for tomorrow also stands cancelled. 

A source from the board revealed yesterday evening, "We received a SMS regarding this only at 8 pm. This workshop was being held to train 100-odd members about the cuss words which cannot be used. The fact that it has been cancelled clearly indicates the nature of things to come."

The decision to not go harsh on cuss words was taken at a censor board meeting held at Sun-n-Sand hotel (Juhu) today.

Ever since Pahlaj sent out a notice to the industry that foul language in films will not be allowed, the industry has been unhappy. Films like Shamitabh and Badlapur have been given several cuts, either by the censor board who has been rather aggressive or the filmmakers themselves who developed cold feet. The latest was Ab Tak Chhappan 2 which was scissored at 19 places.







For those who have come in late, senior board member Ashoke Pandit had lashed out at Pahlaj in an exclusive interview with SpotboyE.com (February 16) saying that Pahlaj had been "unfair".  

So what exactly transpired at the meeting?

SpotboyE.com has it that board members Chandraprakash Dwivedi, Chandramukhi Sharma and Nandini Sardesai got together to tell Pahlaj that they should keep up with times. Pandit then told Pahlaj that a certain list of expletives will not serve any purpose because expletives can always be modified.

Pahlaj argued that he wanted clean films. 

At this point, Sharma got up to open the Cinematograph Act 1952. A source says, "Sharma showed Pahlaj that the 1952 Act spells out that every major decision pertaining to films should be implemented only after keeping the board members in the loop, and since he had not done so, the ban on cuss words stands null and void." 

End result? The ban was put on the back burner. 

Many censor board members came out from the hotel smiling from ear to ear. 

Adds the source, "The censor board will meet again to decide the future course of action. No date for that has however been fixed."