S Ve Sekher, Jeevitha in Censor Board

The information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry on Monday announced the appointment of Bollywood producer Pahlaj Nihalani as CBFC chief to replace Leela Samson who resigned accusing the ministry of “interference, coercion and corruption”. Samson’s resignation was followed by that of 13 other board members. Besides producing films like ‘Ankhen’ and ‘Shola Aur Shabnam’ in the early 1990’s, Nihalani had recently made a six-minute campaign video for Modi titled ‘Har Ghar Modi’.

Those who are part of the new Censor Board include RSS ideologue and editor of Marathi weekly ‘Vivek’, Ramesh Patange. Patange has also edited a book on former PM A B Vajpayee  ‘Atalji: The Pathfinder’. BJP general secretary Vani Tripathi, TV producer Ashok Pandit, producer and actor mainly in Tamil and Telugu films Jeevitha and Tamil playwright  S Ve Shekhar are also among the new board members.