Ex-AAP Shazia Ilmi in film tribunal

With the forthcoming Hindi film Udta Punjab facing rough weather at the hands of the Central Board of Film Certification, which is learnt to have asked its producers to remove around 94 references to Punjab from it, in an interesting turn of events, the government has appointed former AAP leader Shazia Ilmi and Hindi film actor Poonam Dhillon as members of the censor board’s Film Certification Appellate Tribunal. The development assumes significance considering that the controversy related to the film got politicised on Wednesday as the AAP and the BJP levelled allegations against each other over the censorship of the film. The war of words was triggered by CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani alleging that the film’s co-producer Anurag Kashyap took money from the AAP to show Punjab in bad light.

Rejecting the charge, AAP leader Ashish Khetan told reporters that Mr Nihalani must apologise to Mr Kashyap for levelling the allegation or else he should be sacked.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal also alleged that Mr Nihalani’s statement makes it amply clear that he has stopped the film on “BJP’s instructions”. The BJP rejected the allegation.

Amid all this political mudslinging, appointment of Ms Ilmi — who had in May 2014 left the AAP blaming it of lacking any inner party democracy — as member of the censor board’s FCAT seems interesting as soon after her exit from the AAP, there had been speculation of her getting close to the BJP.

The FCAT is the final authority in the censor board where a filmmaker can appeal if his or her film has not been cleared by the examining and revising committees of the CBFC.

If the appellate tribunal also decides against the film, then the producers can approach the court for legal recourse.

Former Delhi High Court judge Justice (retd) S K Mahajan is currently the head of FCAT. The tribunal is normally headed by a retired high court judge. It can have maximum five members, though sources said that in many cases even the chairman alone can handle cases.