NEW DELHI: Almost a week after Manoj Bajpayee zeroed in on Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani by terming him “spent force,” the latter has now hit back at the actor.
According to a DNA report, the CBFC chief said that he is still waiting for Bajpayee’s career to start.
“Bajpayee saab feels so strongly about me? He is such a busy actor. And he still has time to study my career graph. I am deeply moved. But if I am a spent force and I need to retire, then it means I’ve been working all these years- nearly 45 years as a producer and filmmaker. I am still waiting for Manoj Bajpayee’s career to start,” he stated.
“Apart from Satya, which was a very good film, Manoj has not featured in any hits in the 10-12 years of his career. Who is he to talk about my career? He should worry about his own. Manoj is talking about the CBFC to promote his new film. This is his desperate method of getting media space," continued Nihalani.
Further, attacking the filmmakers like Hansal Mehta, Tigmanshu Dhulia and Anurag Kashyap, he said, “There’s a group of filmmakers in Mumbai comprising self-styled geniuses like Hansal Mehta, Tigmanshu Dhulia and above all, Anurag Kashyap, who make films that are praised to the skies by their colleagues and a handful of learned critics.”
“However, the theatres showing their films open empty and close empty. Are you aware of how much money Anurag Kashyap lost to his producers close to `300 crore have been lost through his flop pictures like Ugly, Bombay Velvet and Raghav Raman 2.0. He still continues to make films!” he added.
This came after the film industry raised its voice against censorship, especially ‘Udta Punjab,’ and now the piracy rumours.
Bajpayee, during a recent promotion of ‘Budhia Singh: Born to Run,' said Nihalani's time is over and it's time for him to retire.
His earlier movie 'Aligarh' too faced trouble from the Censor Board.