Pahlaj Nihalani, the Chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in India, has been treating the censor board like his personal fiefdom. He has taken arbitrary decisions, sometimes without even watching movies. He has embarrassed the movie industry, the Central Government and the Indian people. It’s time to fire him!

Let’s look at Mr. Nihalani’s track record as Chairperson of the now infamous ‘Censor Board’.

In the latest instance, Mr. Nihalani and team don’t want 'Udta Punjab' to refer to Punjab in its story of how the state struggles with a massive drug problem that needs to be addressed and understood by the people of our country. #UdtaPunjab #UdtaNihalani

All kissing scenes from the James Bond movie 'Spectre' were reduced in duration. Nihalani didn’t even watch Spectre but stood by his censorship decision. #SanskariJamesBond

Almost all cuss words from 'Deadpool' were beeped out; Deadpool, an A-rated movie about a superhero whose character is built around his filthy but smart and funny language. #SanskariDeadpool

Numerous instances of adult humour (however distasteful), were removed from A-rated movies like 'Mastizaade' and 'Kya Kool Hai Hum 3'. However, humour targeting alternately abled (historically called ‘handicapped') people in movies like Housefull 3 has been allowed.

'Aligarh' was rated 'A' just for dealing with homosexuality, despite having no A-rated content or scenes. It also received further cuts. #ComeOut

'Angry Indian Goddesses' received cuts for imagery involving goddesses, even though there was no insulting gods or goddesses involved at all.

On a separate note…to highlight Mr. Nihalani's blatant hypocrisy, he oversaw the production of a celebratory short film covering the Modi Government’s achievements, featuring several visuals that weren’t from India. He appeared to have bypassed several legal hurdles in order to have it shown in theatres across Maharashtra.

Pahlaj Nihalani in his movie-making days directed movies with songs like ‘Khada hai’ and ‘Akeli Ghar Hun’, not to mention extensive kissing scenes and other ‘inappropriate’ content.

The hypocritical and power-drunk man decides what movies India gets to see and in what shape these movies will be. Most of this content is likely to be inane or vacuous if left to him. On the other hand, ground-breaking or socially relevant films will reach us diluted beyond meaning or they won’t reach us at all because of his own biased prejudices and moral standpoint.

Keeping all this in mind, we urge the I&B Ministry to remove Pahlaj Nihalani as Chairman of the Censor Board. This petition lists enough and more reasons to do so. Without him, maybe the CBFC will have a chance of recovering and getting back to ‘certifying’ movies and not ‘censoring’ them.