The film D-Day, which was recently awarded U/A certificate by the Censor Board, has come under the scanner for violating norms. The film was screened and awarded a certificate by Kanika Dang, who, besides playing the role of Dawood’s wife in the film, is also a member of the censor board. A copy of the certificate (in possession with this newspaper) bears Ms Dang’s signature, which is a clear conflict of interest.
The guidelines prescribed for the censor board members clearly state that they should not have any direct or indirect interest or involvement with the production team.
“Even a distant relative of the production team cannot screen the film. But in this case, Ms Dang awarded the certificate with full confidence, as she shares very cordial terms with CEO Pankaja Thakur,” said a member of the revising committee, who screened the film along with her. He further said, “There are more than 90 members on the censor board, but why Ms Dang was the first to get an invite is very clear.” Meanwhile, Ms Thakur rubbished the allegations and said that she did not know about Ms Dang’s involvement with the production team.
An ex-member of the board, Manoj Dubey, said, “I was a member of the censor board for 15 years, and I had never seen such a degradation of the board.” He slammed the CEO for having a “business motive” with the production houses. When contacted, Ms Dang said, “My role was edited and I was informed about it. I was not given credit anywhere in the film.”