Priyadarshan, Preity Zinta, Ricky Kej among new Censor Board panel members: Full list

Director Priyadarshan, along with actors Preity Zinta, Pankaj Tripathi, and Suniel Shetty, headlines the list of newly appointed members to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), which has undergone its first major overhaul in six years. The Centre announced the reconstitution on Wednesday, finally bringing an end to the extended tenure of the previous panel, whose three-year term had stretched out for more than double its intended length.

Joining them among the 18 new appointees are Grammy-winning musician Ricky Kej, acclaimed actor Pallavi Joshi, and noted filmmaker Prosenjit Chatterjee, adding further diversity and experience to the 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 is required to meet at least once every quarter.

The new panel, headed by CBFC chairperson Shashi Shekhar Vempati, will serve for three years or until further orders, whichever is earlier. Other members include 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 to have been retained. The CBFC was last reconstituted on August 11, 2017, for a three-year term that ended in 2020. However, its members continued in office beyond the stipulated tenure as the rules allowed them to remain until their successors were appointed. The issue of the board's prolonged tenure was also raised in Parliament earlier this year. The government said that under Rule 3 of the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 2024, members hold office at the pleasure of the Centre for a period not exceeding three years, but can continue 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 T S Nagabharana and filmmaker Naresh Chandra Lal, besides Kendre and Patange. The new panel has several members with 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. Incidentally, Pallavi Joshi is the wife of Agnihotri. She was among the producers and cast members of "The Kashmir Files", which had triggered a political storm, directed by him.  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. The reconstitution has been carried out by the government in exercise of 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 (CEO) 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. 
(With PTI inputs)