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Pahlaj Nihalani REACTS to Rajput Karni Sena's criticism of the CBFC for supporting Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Padmavati'

The CBFC is not here to verify historical facts, says Pahlaj Nihalani

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The CBFC Chairperson, Pahlaj Nihalani, has strongly reacted to the criticism of the Rajput Karni Sena, which questioned his support for Sanjay Leela Bhansali and sought his intervention in the recent controversy surrounding Bhansali’s Padmavati.

“It is not the Censor Board’s responsibility to verify historical facts because there are no records or verified data to prove that what is being claimed is true or untrue. We are here only to view films according to the guidelines and whether they conform to social norms. Also everyone has a point of view and there are various historical versions and all of them claim that they are factually correct. Who is going to take the guarantee for this?” Nihalani asked. 

He further said that filmmakers had the right to exercise their cinematic liberty on all occasions, “Whether it is a historical or otherwise, films have their own concepts. The writer and the director are free to exercise their creative imagination. After all it is cinema,” he said. 

When asked about the controversies arising due to the so-called misrepresentation of history in films, “In any case, controversies and protests do take place even after a film is cleared by CBFC. If people believe in censorship, then why are they creating problems for censored films? Why blame the CBFC when you do not take it seriously in the first place,” he asked. 

Nihalani’s reaction comes in the wake of the Rajput Karni Sena’s recent criticism about the Censor Board coming out in support of Sanjay Bhansali vis-à-vis the controversy regarding the depiction of history in his Ranveer-Shahid-Deepika starrer, Padmavati.

In an expressly called media interaction held on February 14, Lokendra Singh Kalvi, Founder, Shree Rajput Karni Sena said, “We have been working for more than 10 years to safeguard the glory of the Rajput community and our ancestors. We are proud of our heritage and will not tolerate any conspiracy that compromises our self-respect. It’s unfortunate to see the Censor Board endorsing Bhansali. When we met the Censor Board authorities a few days back, they told us that no action could be taken before the entire film was made and came to them for review,” he said. 

He cited the example of the 2008 film, Jodha Akbar and said, “Truth often gets overshadowed by the subjectivity of perception which can mislead generations of audience and result in poor understanding of history. When it comes to Bollywood, it has happened several times in the recent past,” he said. 

The Karni Sena Chief, had also stated that it was shortly planning to go to the I & B Ministry to set up a “pre-censor board to monitor all period and historical films” and ensure that there was no distortion of history, “In our opinion, a pre-censor board consisting of experts should supervise all historical films. This will help in overcoming the complications which arise during or after a film is made,” he said. 
On this Nihalani said, “Every person has the right to knock the door of the Government. It would be the Ministry’s call.” 

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