India's censorship board in disarray amid claims of political interference

Demonstrators protest against the release of MSG: The Messenger of God. A ban on the film has been overturned, sparking a crisis in Indias censorship organisation. Photograph: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters

Indias film censorship organisation is in crisis after the resignation of its chair, Leela Samson, amid complaints of interference, coercion and corruption, and more than half its board members.

On Monday, the Bollywood director Pahlaj Nihalani was appointed in Samsons place. However, Nihalanis connections with Indias ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and those of the replacements for other members of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) who walked out in solidarity with Samson have aroused considerable concern.

The controversy erupted last week after the CBFC refused to allow the release of MSG: The Messenger of God only to be overruled by a higher body tasked with settling disputes, the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT).

MSG stars a real-life spiritual leader, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, playing himself while tackling drug addiction and curing deadly illnesses. Singh is the head of a controversial religious organisation, Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS), based in the north Indian state of Haryana.

The board accused MSG of being a feature-length advertorial for Singh and DSS. A member of the revising committee told the digital news outlet Scroll, on condition of anonymity, that the film promotes blind faith and has the potential to create conflict.

Singh has been a contentious figure for years, causing riots in Punjab in 1997 after he appeared in advertisements dressed up as Guru Gobind Singh, one of Sikhisms holiest figures. A number of Sikh organisations, including the Akal Takht, Sikhisms highest temporal body, had sought a ban on MSGs release, originally slated for 16 January. Finding its portrayal of Singh blasphemous, they staged protests against the film.

What rankled Samson and her colleagues was that it took the FCAT only three days to overturn the CBFCs decision. It usually takes a month to get a tribunal to hear a case, former board member Nandini Sardesai told Scroll. How can you constitute a tribunal overnight?

On discovering the FCAT ruling, Samson sent an email to her colleagues claiming the chain of events had made a mockery of them. She hoped they would resign en masse.

Samson has faced external pressure in the past, most recently last month when the CBFC refused a government demand to trim scenes from PK, a Bollywood send-up of organised religion and self-styled gurus. There was total interference on every film, big and small, she told Hindustan Times after resigning. A lot of pressure was put on the film PK to cut scenes.

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India's censorship board in disarray amid claims of political interference