Allies on board, Reddy revamps Censor Board

Censor Board chairperson Sharmila Tagore said she has no problem with the list so far. ‘‘They are good names but the job is still far from over. Members to the other regional boards have to be appointed,’’ she said. When asked if she had problem with the political appointees, Tagore said she has not yet seen their bio-data. ‘‘It would be unfair to comment on the composition right now.’’

Of the 42 names in Chennai, Rama Narayanan is directing Manin Maintham, a film whose script is being penned by DMK chief Karunanidhi, Kayal Dinakaran is secretary of DMK’s literary wing, Sa Ganesan is former DMK MLA and former mayor of Chennai, K. Swarnam is Karunanidhi’s childhood friend, Poochi S. Murugan is a staff member at DMK headquarters, Vasanthi Stanely is a member of the DMK’s women’s wing, Venkatachalam Thayanban is an MDMK sympathiser, Arun Anbarasu is son of a Congressman, A.A. Jinnah is leader of the student wing of DMK, P.V. Kalyanasundaram is municipal councillor, DMK.

As far as the Mumbai Censor Board is concerned, Anis Durrani is a member of the Congress Media cell and media expert M.V. Bhaskar Rao is understood to be close to Congress.

There are altogether nine advisory panels at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati, Hyderabad and Cuttack. With the exception of journalist Mrinal Pande, businessman Sanjiv Goenka and film director L. Suresh, appointed by the previous regime, the remaining names are new. The Censor Board had just completed over a year of its three-year term.