Preity Zinta, Pankaj Tripathi among new members of film certification board

Actor Pallavi Joshi, who has been appointed to the new board, is the wife of outgoing board member and filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri.

The Union government on Wednesday reconstituted the Central Board of Film Certification, with actors Preity Zinta, Pankaj Tripathi, Roopali Ganguly, Pallavi Joshi and Suniel Shetty among those appointed to the new 18-member panel.

Pallavi Joshi is the wife of outgoing board member and filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri. She was among the producers and cast members of The Kashmir Files.

Ganguly has been a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party since May 2024.

The new board has been constituted with immediate effect and will remain in place for three years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

Other members of the board include directors Prosenjit Chatterjee, Priyadarshan, Nila Madhab Panda, actors Manoj Joshi, Supriya Yarlagadda, Nishigandha Wad, writers Abhishek Jain, Yatindra Mishra, film critic Vinod Anupam, music composer Ricky Kej and singer and former BJP MP Hansraj Hans. Theatre director Waman Kendre and writer Ramesh Patange are the only members of the previous board who have been retained in the new panel.

The government last constituted the panel in August 2017 for a three-year term. However, it continued beyond 2020 as the government did not reconstitute it.

The board will function under Shashi Shekhar Vempati, who was appointed as the CBFC chairperson on May 6. Vempati replaced Prasoon Joshi, who stepped down from the post following his appointment as the chairman of Prasar Bharati.

Written by Anamika Pathak. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.