Mrs Celebrity? Join Censor Board

After lining up a celebrity list for the Censor Board last week, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has recommended m...

After lining up a celebrity list for the Censor Board last week, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has recommended more celebrities for the advisory panels to the Board.

Among those who have made it to the panels — courtesy Prasad’s powers under the Cinematograph Act — are Juhi Chawla, Shahrukh Khan’s wife, Gauri, director-producer Subhash Ghai’s wife, Mukta Ghai, Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly’s wife, Dona and cricketer Vinod Kambli.

It is the advisory panels that actually view the films and advise censoring wherever necessary, before rendering them fit for public viewing. The members, who are paid Rs 500 per film, are expected to spell out in clear terms the reasons for recommending a film for unrestricted exhibition (U) or (A) as the case may be.

There are nine advisory panels in the nine regional offices of the Censor Board — Trivandrum, Mumbai, Bangalore, Cuttack, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Guwahati and Hyderabad. The number of members in each centre varies between 15 and 53. The appointment of the members lasts for two years.

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