Bollywood film Udta Punjab was embroiled in a row over the last couple of weeks with the censor board in India, who found the film objectionable and suggested that the producers make 80 cuts to the film including dropping of the word 'Punjab' from the film's title. Shocked by the suggestions and the censor board's attempt to police creativity in the film industry, producers of the film like Anurag Kashyap, Ekta Kapoor and Vikramaditya Motwane among others approached the Bombay High Court to sort the matter out.
The court heard the case over two days last week and was critical of the CBFC’s functioning. According to a report in the Economic Times, the court was of the opinion that removing references of Punjab would affect the film’s core.
“From every dialogue and scene of the film, if reference to Punjab will have to be deleted then the crux of the film will be lost. If the idea of the maker is to be critical of a place or person then that place or person will have to be shown,” the bench said.
The film was cleared by the censor board today and Pahlaj Nihalani said in an article in Mid Day, "We have today cleared Udta Punjab under A (restricted for adult audience) category after 13 cuts".
"The CBFCs job is now over. It is now up to the producer to go to the court or tribunal. We will implement the order," Nihalani said.
The High Court will rule on the censor board's cut to the film today.
The Abhishek Chaubey-directed film is tentatively scheduled for release on June 17.
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