Centre reconstitutes CBFC: Preity Zinta, Suniel Shetty, Pankaj Tripathi among 18 members

The appointments are effective immediately and will remain valid for three years, until further notice.

Preity Zinta, Pankaj Tripathi, Roopali Ganguly and Suniel Shetty are among the new panel members of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). The 18-member team was constituted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Wednesday in exercise of the powers conferred under the Cinematograph Act.

The new board, headed by CBFC chairperson Shashi Shekhar Vempati, has been constituted with immediate effect for three years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

Other prominent faces from cinema, television and music appointed to the film certification body include, Grammy winner Ricky Kej, Manoj Joshi, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Pallavi Joshi, Roopali Ganguly, Nishigandha Wad, Abhishek Jain and Neela Madhab Panda, producer Supriya Yarlagadda and singer Hansraj Hans.

The Ministry notified the reconstitution of the board on September 16 under Section 3(1) of the Cinematograph Act, 1952, along with Rule 3 of the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 2024.

Vempati shared the list of newly appointed board members on X (formerly Twitter) shortly after it was released. Welcoming the new members, Vempati wrote, “Congratulations and welcome to the new Board Members of @CBFC_Bharat."

The CBFC was last reconstituted in August 2017 for a three-year term. Members of that board continued beyond 2020 in the absence of a fresh reconstitution, under provisions allowing them to remain in office until their successors are appointed.

The previous CBFC board featured several well-known names, including actors Vidya Balan and Gautami Tadimalla, filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, former footballer Mihir Bhutia, Vani Tripathi Tikoo, actor Jeevitha Rajasekhar, filmmaker T S Nagabharana and filmmaker Naresh Chandra Lal. Kendre and Patange were also part of the outgoing board.

Pallavi Joshi, who has been appointed to the new board, is the wife of filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri. She was also among the producers and cast members of "The Kashmir Files", which was directed by Agnihotri.

Meanwhile, Roopali Ganguly formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2024.

An I&B Ministry official told NDTV that the reconstitution of the CBFC had been due for some time, as several members of the previous board were no longer active.

“The reconstitution had been pending for some time, with some members of the previous board no longer active and the terms of some others having passed away."