In a welcome move, the Centre has decided to form a panel on Friday to be headed by noted director Shyam Benegal, which will look into the revamp of the Censor Board and suggest modifications in the Cinematograph Act.
Reacting to the news, Shyam Benegal said, “It's PM's vision to revamp the censor board.”
The Committee, which also includes Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Bhawana Somaaya, Piyush Pandey and Nina Lath Gupta, has been given two months to submit its recommendations.
The Censor Board has been in the midst of a raging debate ever since PM Modi loyalist Pahlaj Nihalani was appointed as chairperson at the beginning of the year.
The introduction of a ‘cuss list’ by the Censor Board chief did not go down well with the fellow board members. Besides, a video produced by Nihalani openly praising Narendra Modi also ruffled quite a few feathers.
The deletion of certain kiss scenes in the recently released Bond movie ‘Spectre’ had made Nihalani the butt of many jokes, following which the hashtag #sanskarijamesbond started trending on Twitter.
Here are a few of the reactions on Twitter.
So happy Shyam Benegal ji head of Cbfc - Pragmatic visionary artistic.
— Supriya Sule (@supriya_sule) January 1, 2016
Excellent news. Board headed by Shyam Benegal set up to revamp Censor Board, chiefly the sacking of board chief Pahlaj Nihalani.
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) January 1, 2016
@VishalDadlani @ShivAroor yes and its after the intervention of @PMOIndia he is a reasonable man. U just need to engage with him
— wicked mind (@wickedmind1234) January 1, 2016
#ShyamBengal tells @ibnlive there is no such thing as 10 commandments for film certification.#CensorBoard rules need relook periodically.
— ananya dasgupta (@ananyadg) January 1, 2016
Finally, #PahlajNihalani's wings chopped? #ShyamBengal to revamp #CBFC after @narendramodi intervenes. To submit report in 2 months #news
— pallab ghosh (@pallabghosh) January 1, 2016
Best news on this first day of the year - a revamp of #CensorBoard of India under stewardship of #ShyamBenegal
— Udita Jhunjhunwala (@UditaJ) January 1, 2016