Mukesh Khanna, famous for playing the characters of Bhishm Pitamah in Mahabharat TV serial and superhero Shaktiman, has resigned as the chief of the Children’s Film Society of India.
Khanna has resigned reportedly because he was unhappy with the Information and Broadcasting ministry headed by Smriti Irani. “Khanna had been asking the ministry to revisit the allocation as he found the current budget of around Rs 10 crore a year insufficient for making films that can be released in cinemas,” a ministry official was quoted by Hindustan Times.
Khanna was also reportedly not pleased with the ministry’s proposal to merge the CFSI with the films division. His term was coming to an end in April.
Khanna was appointed as the CFSI’s chief in April 2015. He made his acting debut with BR Chopra’s iconic serial Mahabharat. He was last seen in daily soap “Pyaar Ka Dard Hai Meetha Meetha Pyaara Pyaara.”
In 2016, Khanna had courted controversy for defending the then CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani on the need to curb artistic freedom in India adding that freedom of speech could not be absolute and films in our country needed censoring to filter out bad and offensive content.
“I differ from people who say we have freedom of expression. If due to your freedom of expression, our students are going wayward and the landscape of our country’s security is being altered, I would stop them. There has to be censorship. You can’t make anything. I am against it. Here in our country a film like Grand Masti runs and becomes a superhit. People say it’s their freedom of expression. My foot. One should make good films,” said Khanna was quoted by Indian Express.