The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has reconstituted the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), with actors Preity Zinta, Suniel Shetty, Roopali Ganguly, Pallavi Joshi, Pankaj Tripathi and Manoj Joshi among the 18 members of the newly constituted committee.
The CBFC announced the reconstitution on Wednesday through its social media platforms.
The new committee has been constituted by the Central Government under sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Cinematograph Act, 1952, read with Rule 3 of the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 2024.
Besides the actors, the committee includes filmmaker Neela Madhab Panda, actor Prosenjit Chatterjee and other members from the film and creative sectors.
The committee has been constituted for a period of three years or until further orders, as provided under the relevant provisions of the Cinematograph Act.
The CBFC has not issued any communication regarding the chairperson as part of the latest announcement. Shashi Shekhar Vempati is currently serving as the CBFC chief, having replaced filmmaker and lyricist Prasoon Joshi in May this year.
Vempati previously served as the Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati from 2017 to 2022. Prasoon Joshi currently serves as the CEO of Prasar Bharati.
The reconstitution comes amid continuing debate over film certification and censorship in India.
One of the recent films to face scrutiny during the certification process was ‘Satluj’, starring Diljit Dosanjh. The film, originally titled ‘Punjab 95’, remained pending for nearly three years after being submitted to the CBFC in 2022.
The makers had alleged that the CBFC sought 127 cuts in the film. When the movie was eventually released on an OTT platform in July under the title ‘Satluj’, it appeared without those cuts. However, the film was removed from the platform in India within 48 hours of its release.
The CBFC’s latest reconstitution is expected to bring a new set of members into the board’s certification and advisory processes for the coming three-year period.