Nihalani sacked as censor board chief, Prasoon Joshi takes over

TIL Desk Bollywood/ Pahlaj Nihalani, whose decisions as the censor board chief repeatedly angered the film fraternity, was on Friday replaced by noted lyricist and ad guru Prasoon Joshi, drawing widespread applause from the film fraternity.

One of the most controversial censor board chairpersons who skirmished with film producers over cuts, beeps and disclaimers he insisted on, Nihalani told: “I had been preparing myself for my exit for months now.”

He alleged that since the time he became CBFC chief in 2015 “there have been elements working against me, some of them from within the CBFC. These elements — I’m not going to name them on-record are currently celebrating premature Diwali.” He also said he has no regrets on his ouster.

“None at all. Believe me, I was brought in as the CBFC chairperson all a sudden. I happily took up the job that the government thought me fit for. Now when the government has asked me to step down, I do so without any regret.” He refrained from commenting on Joshi being his successor.