Mumbai: In wake of several cuts given to his upcoming film “Rangeela Raja”, Govinda has alleged that there is a group of people in the industry, who are conspiring to not let his films release. A press conference was held Saturday evening after the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) reportedly refused to certify the film and ordered 20 cuts. The film is produced by former CBFC chief and filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani.
“This has been happening for the last nine years where a group of people in the film industry is conspiring against me and not letting my films release on any good platform,” Govinda told reporters. “Either my films are not getting a release or they are not getting good number of theatres or screens. The recent example was “Fryday” which released a few weeks ago and media gave it a good review. They took the film away from theatres,” he said, without taking any names.
Govinda, who made his acting debut with Nihalani’s “Ilzaam”, worked with him on films like “Shola Aur Shabnam” and “Aankhen”, both were superhits. “Our film industry was never like this and it seems we are living in a different world. If someone would have supported me then I would have not faced problems.
“Today no one is supporting me. I don’t have financiers or producers backing me. When he (Nihalani) is supporting me, he has been told, why are you working with Govinda,” the 54-year-old actor said. Nihalani claims his film”Rangeela Raja” is a clean family entertainer and fails to understand why so many cuts are given by CBFC.
“I had applied for U/A certificate and I got that. ‘A’ certificate is given in case the content has elements of horror, vulgarity, obscenity and violence. In our film there is no kiss on the cheeks also. It is an entertaining film,” he said. “Producers have to wait in some cases longer to get the certificate and this not only results in delay in releasing the film but producers also face financial losses. The ministry should do something,” he added.
Nihalani feels current CBFC chief Prasoon Joshi should be sacked. “He did watch Aamir Khan’s “Thugs Of Hindostan” but did not watch my film. Later he watched and gave a list of unnecessary cuts without any reference of the guideline from the rulebook.
“He should be sacked and I do not know why the whole film industry is silent. He does not go to the office, he calls producers at the Taj hotel and makes them wait for four hours to give the certificate for their films,” he added. Lawyer Ashok Saraogi, who was present at the press conference, said the team chose to show the 20 cuts given by CBFC to the media to understand their views. The producer has moved to the Bombay High Court to seek justice against the decision of CBFC. The hearing is on Monday.
