India Reconstitutes Film Certification Board With Preity Zinta, Pankaj Tripathi Among 18 Members
India's government has reconstituted the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), naming 18 members who include actors Pankaj Tripathi, Preity Zinta and Suniel Shetty, filmmaker Priyadarshan and composer Ricky Kej, among others.
The board takes effect immediately and will serve for three years or until further orders, whichever is earlier, according to a statement from the government's Press Information Bureau. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued the notification on 16 September 2026.
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The 18 members are Vinod Anupam, Manoj Joshi, Abhishek Jain, Ricky Kej, Priyadarshan, Suniel Shetty, Hansraj Hans, Supriya Yarlagadda, Yatindra Mishra, Roopali Ganguly, Preity Zinta, Neela Madhab Panda, Pankaj Tripathi, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Pallavi Joshi, Nishigandha Wad, Waman Kendre and Ramesh Patange.
The CBFC is a statutory body under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that regulates the public exhibition of films under the Cinematograph Act. Often called the censor board, it reviews films before they can be shown publicly in India. Examining committees carry out certification, and revising committees can re-examine a film if the producer or the board disagrees with the examining committee's decision. The board is headquartered in Mumbai and has nine regional offices.
The notification does not name a chairperson. The ministry appointed Shashi Shekhar Vempati to that role through a separate notification dated 6 May 2026, for a three-year term, after Prasoon Joshi stepped down on being made chairman of Prasar Bharati, the public broadcaster. Vempati is a former chief executive of Prasar Bharati.
The previous board was constituted in August 2017 and stayed in place beyond its original three-year term, as members continued until successors were named. That board included actor Vidya Balan and filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri. Two of its members, theatre director Waman Kendre and writer Ramesh Patange, have been retained on the new board.
Tripathi, who trained at the National School of Drama, works mainly in Hindi films and series. He has won two National Film Awards: a special mention for Newton (2017), and the best supporting actor award for Mimi (2021). He received the second award from President Droupadi Murmu in October 2023.
Pankaj tripathi got no chill pic.twitter.com/7fFQVLGE6z
— SUPRIYA (@Supriyashrivxst) September 2, 2026
Kej, a composer, has won three Grammy awards. The third came in 2023 in the best immersive audio album category for Divine Tides, a collaboration with Stewart Copeland, drummer of the rock band the Police. He received the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian honour, in 2025.
Hans, a singer of Punjabi folk and Sufi music and a Padma Shri recipient, represented the North West Delhi constituency in the Lok Sabha, India's lower house of parliament, for the Bharatiya Janata Party from 2019 to 2024.
Other members include actor-filmmaker Prosenjit Chatterjee, filmmaker, actor Pallavi Joshi, filmmaker Abhishek Jain, filmmaker Neela Madhab Panda and actor Roopali Ganguly.