Pahlaj Nihalani’s fight with CBFC continues

On Tuesday, the vacation bench of the Bombay High Court refused to grant relief to filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani in his case against the CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification) for demanding 20 cuts in his film, Rangeela Raja. Justice Riyaz Chagla, who is presiding over the vacation bench, said that he was not inclined to take up his petition for an urgent hearing either and that post Diwali holidays, the regular court could resume hearing the matter on November 19. 

As a result, not only can Nihalani not release his Govinda-starrer on November 16 as planned, he can’t announce the release date till the next hearing. During the hearing on Tuesday, the filmmmaker’s lawyer Ashok Sarogi was asked why his client, erstwhile CBFC chief, didn’t apply to the Revising Committe (RC). To that, the lawyer told the court that the RC is decided by the CBFC chairperson Prasoon Joshi, who was on leave. Observing that the petitioner hadn’t exhausted the available avenues before approaching it, the court directed Nihalani to approach the RC and file another application on November 19. 

When contacted, the filmmaker said, “To the best of my knowledge, when the screening of my film happened on October 31, Prasoon Joshi was out of the country and scheduled to return on November 15. CBFC’s lawyer told the court that the chairman was in town. I’ll see if the Revising Committee can accommodate my screening earlier. So far, they haven’t responded. So, I’ll have to wait till November 19, to hear what the honourable court has to say. I can’t announce a release date and then change it because that’s going to cost me a lot of money and also affect the film.”