Pahlaj Nihalani Blasts Amol Palekar

Pahlaj Nihalani is not willing to let Amol Palekar get away with his anti-censor petition in the honourable Supreme Court.

Reacting to the actor-filmmaker’s legal recourse against censorship CBFC chairpersonPahlaj Nihalani says, ““He has no  idea what he’s talking about.He wants the Cinematograph Act to be scrapped, that films shuld be given censor certificates without any cuts or without even viewing. But how can the content of a film be determined  or evaluated until seen? If Sholay had been made by Hrishikesh Mukherjee instead of Ramesh Sippyit would’ve been a  different film altogether. Every film is a reflection of the direct’s personal vision.It has to be certified accordingly. The  kind of films that Amol Palekar worked in , hardly gave him any experience in the field of censorship. Films of Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee never needed to be censored,”

​  Nihalani sees a hidden agenda in Palekar’s tirade against censorship. “​

Perhaps after directing a super-flop like Paheli which couldn’t generate any interest, Mr Palekar wants to do  a more spiced-up eyebrow-raising film that may get him into a huddle with the  censors. Before that happens he wants censorship to  be abolished.”

However  the censor chief feels it isn’t that easy to dispose of censorship. “Cinema has changed  from the time Mr Palekar used to act in all those Rajshri Productions  directed byBasu Chatterjee. Back then there was mono sound. Now there is Atmos. Big difference in what you hear and see in today’s cinema and what  you were part of in the 1970s.Every nuance and twitch is amplified now.What looked normal on the 35 mm screen  looks overblown in 70 mm.”