In their battle with Censor Board's unreasonable'edit' demands, the makers of Udta Punjab have a reason to rejoice as Bombay High Court has favoured creativity and sought explanation from the CBFC for 89 cuts.
CBFC's clamour for calling the film anti-Punjab took Justice SC Dharmadhikari by surprise.
The Censor Board wanted the movie to be depicted in a fictional land and asked for deletion of every single reference to Punjab, including Punjab signboard in the beginning. According to India Today's report, he questioned the Censor Board, "Has drug menace never been portrayed on celluloid? Some may be crude, while some may be artistic. How does this signboard insult anyone?"
On Wednesday(June 8), Udta Punjab makers approached the Bombay High Court against the Central Board of Film Certification(CBFC) for advising 89 cuts.
Judge further added, "There was a film on Moga(a district in Punjab) being a cancer town. It was not to degrade the town, but to talk about the seriousness of the issue."
CBFC also demanded that Punjab be dropped from the movie title because it portrays the state in poor light. To this Dharmadhikari replied, "Are you saying that Punjab is known only for drugs?"
In an interview to IANS, head of Censor Board Revamp Panel, Shyam Benegal said, "It's a well-made film. It brings to attention a very serious problem, that of drug use among young people, which can, if we are not careful, become a rampant problem. It's a laudable effort."
"But people are misreading the film. They are under the impression that it is anti-Punjab. I don't think the film is anti-Punjab at all," he added.
Censor chief Pahlaj Nihalani has denied allegations suggesting he acted under political pressure.
Benegal said he presented his views as an individual filmmaker, not as head of the CBFC revamp committee. "If the question is of the use of dialect and language, there is a great deal of obscenity being used(in the film). But you see, there are certain sections of our population that use obscenity as punctuation in the language," Benegal added.
Having said that, Benegal asserted that the movie is recommended for a mature audience, "essentially for adults" and not for a universal audience. That it should get an'A' certificate.
Benegal said that in essence, Udta Punjab makes an important point. "Punjab is vulnerable. Unfortunately, it happens to be extremely vulnerable because it's a border state and it's a doorway to India. So, drugs that come in from outside, have to pass through Punjab."
Udta Punjab is in the middle of a raging controversy owing to its content. The film attempts to bring on screen the problem of drug abuse among the youth of Punjab which hasn't gone down all too well with people in power considering the fact that assembly elections are due in the state next year.
