It has been nearly two weeks since lyricist and screenwriter Prasoon Joshi succeeded Pahlaj Nihalani to take over the position of the CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification) chief. And it seems that within 12 days of his joining, Joshi has already sent a movie into his recycle bin. ‘Toofan Singh’, the first film sent to Joshi for certification has been reportedly banned in India on the grounds of excessive violence. It is a Punjabi film directed by Baghal Singh and narrates the story of Toofan Singh, who adopted terrorism to fight politics and corruption in the Indian bureaucracy.   

© Royal Cine Arts

According to a report published in DNA, a source from the CBFC said, “Toofan Singh is a terrorist, who goes on a rampage killing corrupt cops and politicians. And they’ve compared him to Bhagat Singh. The film is brutal and anarchic. We couldn’t empathise with its message of brute power, let alone grant it a censor certificate.” The film, however, has already been released overseas. Ranjit Bawa plays the titular role of Toofan Singh. 

Joshi joined as the CBFC chief after Pahlaj Nihalani was fired by the government and we are sure Bollywood must have breathed a sigh of relief after his ousting. Nihalani was often at loggerheads with the directors for his unnecessary ‘cuts’ in films. If you think the word unnecessary is kind of weird to use here, well, don’t forget that he is the guy under whose leadership the censor board released a list of banned words that included ‘Bombay’ and over 30 other cuss words. Had Bollywood listened to him, then National award-winning movies like ‘Darr’, ‘Dabangg’, ‘Vicky Donor’, ‘The Dirty Picture’ or ‘Omkara’ wouldn’t have captured our attention like they did.       

Source: DNA