The Bombay High Court has slammed the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for demanding as many as 89 cuts in Udta Punjab, including all references to ‘Punjab’ in the film.
Announcing its verdict in favour of the Abhishek Chaubey-directorial, the court has directed the Censor Board to pass the film with ‘A’ certificate, disclaimers and just one cut -- the scene where rockstar Tommy Singh (Shahid Kapoor) is shown urinating on the crowd will be removed.
The HC has asked CBFC to do the needful in 2 days.
Here’s the list of cuts the Censor Board had earlier demanded:
And here’s the HC’s response to those demands:
Cut #1 and # 2: The title contains the word Punjab, so there is no need to delete scene of a sign board showing Punjab. By referring to Punjab, the sovereignty of India is not affected.
Cut #3 and #4: Deleting the word ‘Chittave’ and ‘Harami’ is justified from song number 1
Cut #5: Some cuss words have to be deleted
Cut #6: Words like ‘Election’, ‘MP’, ‘Party’, ‘MLA’ are general words and they don’t refer to any outfit. They reflect for general political work
Cut #7: Deleting the visuals of scratching/itching side portion by Sardar will be retained as it is a passing shot and not vulgar
Cut #8: One close-up scene of injecting drug will not violate the mandate and does not encourage drugs
Cut #9: Shahid Kapoor urinating on the crowd will be cut as it is unnecessary and there is much material for filmmakers to drive home their point even without this scene
Cut #10: Does not suggest anything about the state. Punjab is a land of green revolution, brave soldiers. One sentence (Zameen banjar te aulaad kanjar) can't affect that image. Warriors are not that sensitive.
Image Source: Indiaforum, twitter/shahidkapoor & BalajiMotionPictures