Mumbai: The vacation bench of the Bombay high court on Tuesday refused to grant any interim relief or give an urgent hearing on the petition filed by Pahlaj Nihalani, the former chairman of the censor board. Nihalani had filed a petition challenging 20 “unnecessary” cuts demanded by the censor board in his upcoming film Rangeela Raja.
Justice Riyaz Chagla, presiding over a vacation bench of the high court, said he was not inclined to grant any interim relief at this stage or take up the petition for an urgent hearing. He said that the petition should be heard once the court reopens on November 19.
Nihalani’s tenure as the chief of Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) was marred by controversies as various filmmakers had accused him of asking for arbitrary cuts in their films, leading to him being replaced by Prasoon Joshi.
Nihalani, in his petition filed last week, had claimed that CBFC’s suggestions seeking to cut 20 scenes from the film were unjustified and uncalled for because he firmly believed that the film was not vulgar in any manner.
He has alleged in the petition that the present CBFC head, Prasoon Joshi, was politically motivated. He also alleged that the board took 40 days to screen his film, while another film, which was submitted for certification by the CBFC screening committee, took only 21 days to decide because they Joshi’s friends were involved in that film.
On November 2, the CBFC committee had passed an order asking for various cuts in his movie Rangeela Raja.
The film features actor Govinda, with who Nihalani is re-uniting after 25 years. Govinda had earlier worked in Nihalani's films like Ilzaam, Shola Aur Shabnam and Aankhen.
