CBFC Reconstituted After 6 Years; Preity Zinta, Pankaj Tripathi, Suniel Shetty Among New Members

The Centre on Wednesday reconstituted the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), more than six years after the three-year tenure of its previous panel expired, appointing actors Preity Zinta, Pankaj Tripathi, Suniel Shetty, Pallavi Joshi and Prosenjit Chatterjee, and Grammy-winning musician Ricky Kej, among others, to the 18-member board.

The move comes weeks after the CBFC held its first board meeting in six years on August 29. Under the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 2024, the board must meet at least once every quarter.

Headed by CBFC Chairperson Shashi Shekhar Vempati, the new board has been constituted with immediate effect for three years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

Who’s On The New CBFC Board

Besides Zinta, Tripathi, Shetty, Joshi, Chatterjee and Kej, the panel includes filmmaker Priyadarshan, film critic Vinod Anupam, actor Manoj Joshi, filmmaker Abhishek Jain, singer and former parliamentarian Hans Raj Hans, producer Supriya Yarlagadda, poet and writer Yatindra Mishra, actor Roopali Ganguly, filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda and actor Nishigandha Wad.

Theatre director Waman Kendre and writer and RSS pracharak Ramesh Patange are the only two members of the previous board retained on the new panel.

The CBFC was last reconstituted on August 11, 2017, for a three-year term that ended in 2020. Its members, however, continued beyond the stipulated tenure because provisions allowed them to remain in office until their successors were appointed.

The issue also came up in Parliament earlier this year, when the government stated that under Rule 3 of the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 2024, every member holds office during the pleasure of the Centre for a period not exceeding three years but continues until a successor is appointed.

The outgoing board included actor Vidya Balan, filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, playwright Mihir Bhuta, actor Gautami Tadimalla, Vani Tripathi Tikoo, actor Jeevitha Rajasekhar, filmmaker TS Nagabharana and filmmaker Naresh Chandra Lal, besides Kendre and Patange.

BJP And Sangh Links Among Members

Several members of the new panel have links to the ruling BJP or the broader Sangh Parivar. Ganguly formally joined the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, while Hans is a BJP leader who represented North West Delhi in the Lok Sabha from 2019 to 2024.

Patange, one of the two members retained from the previous board, is an RSS pracharak and author of the book Why Are We in the RSS...?. It carries a foreword by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.

Pallavi Joshi is the wife of Agnihotri and was among the producers and cast members of The Kashmir Files, directed by him, which had triggered a political storm.

Filmmakers, Actors And Musicians On Panel

Priyadarshan is a veteran filmmaker who has worked extensively in Malayalam and Hindi cinema, while Panda is an award-winning filmmaker known for films such as I Am Kalam. Jain is a filmmaker and producer associated primarily with Gujarati cinema.

Kej is a three-time Grammy Award-winning music composer and environmentalist, while Hans is a noted Punjabi singer.

Chatterjee is one of the leading names in Bengali cinema. Manoj Joshi is a veteran film, television and theatre actor, while Wad has worked extensively in Marathi and Hindi films and television.

Kendre, a Padma Shri recipient, is a noted theatre director and former director of the National School of Drama. Mishra is a Hindi poet, writer and music scholar, while Yarlagadda is associated with the Telugu film industry as a producer.

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Vempati Heads Reconstituted Board

The government reconstituted the board by exercising its powers under sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Cinematograph Act, 1952, read with Rule 3 of the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 2024.

Vempati, a former chief executive officer of Prasar Bharati, was appointed CBFC Chairperson in May this year for a three-year term after lyricist Prasoon Joshi stepped down following his appointment as Chairman of Prasar Bharati.

The CBFC is a statutory body under the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry responsible for certifying films for public exhibition in India.