Pahlaj Nihalani blames Smriti Irani for his dismissal from board

New Delhi: After Pahlaj Nihalani got sacked as chief of the Central Board of Film Certification, there have been many interview rounds of him on several news channels. Earlier he blamed Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Anurag Kashyap, and Ekta Kapoor for his dismissal from the Board, but now he has also added the name of Information and Broadcasting minister, Smriti Irani. In an interview with YouTube channel, Lehren TV, Nihlani said that at the I&B Ministry, he was their target number one. He mentioned that it all started when he did not clear Indu Sarkar. Irani gave him a call and asked him the reason of not clearing the movie. Nihalani, in response, told her that he was following guidelines and now the film is already with the Tribunal. He told her that if she wants she can get it cleared from the Tribunal. He added that he was not massaging her ego and it was only a matter of time before he was thrown out. He further alleged that he had been ordered by the I&B Ministry to not pass Shahid Kapoor-starrer, Udta Punjab, which dealt with the issue of the drug trade in the state. He said that it is the first time that he is revealing that I&B Ministry told him to not pass the film. There was a pressure from many places to not pass it. After that, the revising committee gave it a date, and he passed Udta Punjab but with guidelines. The list did not end here. Nihalani also mentioned that he was told not to pass Bajrangi Bhaijaan too. He said that he got a call from the ministry to not release the film on Eid because of its title as ministry thought that the film was about love jihad. He had heard the script before and the film's writer was also writing a film for him at the time he added. It was an advanced letter Nihalani said and later he wrote letters to the ministry asking them to see the film according to the guidelines.