Pahlaj Nihalani Sends Legal Notice to IIFA For Defamation

CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani. 

(Photo: Facebook/ Pahlaj Nihalani)

Producer and chairperson of the Censor Board Pahlaj Nihalani has sent a 5-page legal notice to the IIFA (International Indian Film Academy) and its organizers Wizcraft International.

The legal notice (a copy of which is in this writer’s possession) sent on behalf of Mr Nihalani by his lawyer Suren Uppal states that at the IIFA awards held on July 15 in New York, Nihalani’s picture was used in an inappropriate manner during a skit performed by Riteish Deshmukh and Manish Paul where the CBFC chairperson was referred to as a ‘watchman’.

The 5-page notice goes on to state that the same kind of “grossly defamatory expressions” were undertaken at the IIFA in 2016 in a skit by Farhan Akhtar and Shahid Kapoor.

Copy of the legal notice. (Photo courtesy: Subhash K Jha)

The notice demands an unconditional apology in several newspapers and channels and a pledge to not defame Nihalani with similar acts in the future.

Says Mr Nihalani, “The matter is gone legal now. So I’ll say only one thing. I know when to laugh and when to make others cry.”

The CBFC chairperson plans to take legal action against all those who have been repeatedly ridiculing him. We hear Suhel Seth is next in the line of fire.

Nihalani states, “These people forget they insult not me but the position held by me as the chairperson of the CBFC. It’s time to let them know the joke is not on me.”

(The love of Lata Mangeshkar's voice and Hindi movies - in that order - has propelled Subhash K Jha to the pursuit of journalism for over 30 years.)

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