Pahlaj Nihalani was removed as the CBFC chief last night. Following the announcement, award winning lyricist Prasoon Joshi was appointed as the honorary chief. Social media rejoiced at the exit of Nihalani, under whose leadership the CBFC had become increasingly intolerant.
Here are some Twitter reactions:
Now that #PahlajNihalaniSacked our entertainment will have to come from films, not from #censorboard chief himself!#PahlajNihalani
— Anirban Datta-Roy (@clixbyman) August 12, 2017
Pahlaj Nihalani gets fired the same day Toilet Ek Prem Katha releases. Glad India is finally taking sanitation seriously.
— Daniel Fernandes (@absolutelydanny) August 11, 2017
Accha chalta hu, CHUTYA hu mein yaad rakhna #PahlajNihalani pic.twitter.com/2igF2M7lX9
— RS (@AwaraRish) August 11, 2017
Film industry right now. #PahlajNihalaniSacked pic.twitter.com/EBIHQ7kcFc
— Savio (@saviojoseph) August 11, 2017
#PahlajNihalaniSacked
Bollywood right now?? pic.twitter.com/TaSueu4pnq— Sagnik Misra (@Sangy_Sagnik) August 11, 2017
Pic 1: #PahlajNihalani as the CBFC chairman.
Pic2: #PahlajNihalaniSacked pic.twitter.com/Wy98ETWk0d
— Dolla Bill (@Trollsnpjs) August 11, 2017
Goodbye Flowers, Goodbye Bees, Goodbye unwanted censorship or is it? #Pahlajnihalanisacked pic.twitter.com/2S2N41i2mE
— Rohit Johnson (@Johnnie_Hit) August 11, 2017
Nihalani proved to be extremely unpopular with the Hindi film industry as well as on social media. Since his tenure began in January 2015, he has been responsible for giving huge cuts to Udta Punjab, Lipstick Under My Burkha and others. It took judicial intervention for the films to receive a fair censor process.