Pahlaj Nihalani sacked as Censor board, Prasoon Joshi appointed successor

Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani with actor Akshay Kumar

The Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief Pahlaj Nihalani has been sacked from the organisation on Friday. Noted lyricist Prasoon Joshi will replace Nihalani at the censor board chief.

"In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Cinematograph Act, 1952 (37 of 1952) read with rule 3 of the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 1983, the Central Government is pleased to appoint Sh. Prasoon Joshi as Chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification in an honorary capacity from  August 11, 2017 for a period of three years or until further orders, whichever is earlier," a statement from the government said.

Over the past few months, Nihalani made headlines over controversies regarding his stand for cuts made in movies like 'Lipstick Under My Burkha' and 'When Harry Met Sejal'. Back then, the Ministry of information and broadcasting sources had indicated his removal from the post.

Nihalani had been in news ever since he joined the office in 2015 because of the huge number of cuts he made in movies, which gave him a 'Sanskari' title.