CBFC Gets New 18-Member Board After Six Years, Preity Zinta, Pankaj Tripathi Join Panel
The Centre has reconstituted the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) more than six years after the tenure of its previous panel formally ended, bringing several prominent names from Indian cinema, music and literature onto the new 18-member board.
Actors Preity Zinta, Pankaj Tripathi, Suniel Shetty, Pallavi Joshi, Prosenjit Chatterjee and Roopali Ganguly, filmmaker Priyadarshan and Grammy-winning composer Ricky Kej are among those appointed to the new panel.
The board, headed by CBFC chairperson Shashi Shekhar Vempati, has been constituted with immediate effect for three years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
The reconstitution comes weeks after the CBFC held its first board meeting in six years on August 29. Under the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 2024, the board is required to meet at least once every quarter.
Other members of the new panel include film critic Vinod Anupam, actor Manoj Joshi, filmmakers Abhishek Jain and Nila Madhab Panda, singer and former parliamentarian Hans Raj Hans, producer Supriya Yarlagadda, poet and writer Yatindra Mishra, and theatre director Waman Kendre.
Kendre and writer Ramesh Patange are the only two members retained from the previous board.
The previous CBFC panel was constituted on August 11, 2017, for a three-year term ending in 2020. However, its members continued in office beyond the stipulated period as rules allowed them to remain until their successors were appointed.
The prolonged continuation of the panel had also come up in Parliament earlier this year. The government said that under Rule 3 of the 2024 certification rules, members hold office during the pleasure of the Centre for a period not exceeding three years, but continue until replacements are appointed.
The composition of the new board has also attracted attention because several members have links with the BJP or the wider Sangh Parivar. Ganguly joined the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, while Hans is a BJP leader who served as the MP from North West Delhi between 2019 and 2024.
Patange, who has been retained, is an RSS pracharak and author. Pallavi Joshi, meanwhile, is the wife of filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri and was associated with The Kashmir Files as a producer and actor.
The panel brings together figures from across India's regional and mainstream film industries. Priyadarshan has worked extensively in Malayalam and Hindi cinema, while Panda is known for films including I Am Kalam. Chatterjee is a prominent name in Bengali cinema, while Jain is associated with Gujarati cinema.
Kej, a three-time Grammy Award-winning composer and environmentalist, adds a music background to the panel, while Hans brings experience from Punjabi music.
Vempati, a former CEO of Prasar Bharati, was appointed CBFC chairperson in May this year, replacing lyricist Prasoon Joshi, who stepped down after being appointed chairman of Prasar Bharati.
The CBFC is a statutory body under the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry and is responsible for certifying films for public exhibition in India.