Censor Board justifies changes in 'Udta Punjab'

The Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the Censor Board to explain why it is insisting on deletion of Punjab signboard in film Udta Punjab even as the film body insisted that the 13 changes suggested by its Revising Committee were justified and properA bench headed by Justice S C Dharmadhikari was hearing a petition filed by Phantom Films producer of Udta Punjab which is aggrieved by an order of the Revising Committee of the Board that suggested changes in the film before its release on June 17Justice Dharmadhikari compared drugthemed Udta Punjab with another film released earlier titled Go Goa Gone saying in that movie the state of Goa is shown as a place where people go to socialise in parties and also take banned drugsIf Goa can be shown as a place of drug abuse in that film what is wrong if Punjab is shown in Udta Punjab asked the judgeThe Central Board of Film Certification CBFC lawyer argued that the order of the Revising Committee suggesting 13 changes in the film was not arbitrary and the committee had applied its mind while making these suggestionsWe are objecting to the reference of Punjab and its people and the language used in the film the lawyer arguedHearing the arguments the court said that it was not satisfied with the first two suggestions made by the Censor Board in regard to the first two suggestions of the Committee about removing references to places in that state such as Chandigarh Amritsar Tarantaran Jashanpura Moga andLudhianaOn other suggestions of Revising Committee the Censor Board lawyer said he would make submissions tomorrow following which the court deferred the matterThe Censor Board also justified the impugned order saying that there were no delay on its part and that it was proper and within the framework of the guidelinesHowever Ravi Kadam counsel for Phantom Films the production company of Anurag Kashyap said the impugned order was issued without any application of mind and was arbitraryPunjab is an integral part of the concept and cannot be deleted from the film he saidReferences to Punjab in film were in the context of the theme and did not form substantial part of the dialogue and the script the petitioners lawyer Ravi Kadam arguedHow can the reference to Punjab be construed as questioning of the sovereignty and integrity of the country in general and of the state in particular he askedThe suggestion of the Revising Committee to delete certain words from a song was totally unjustified as these words were related to drug abuse he saidDuring the arguments Justice Dharmadhikari asked the Censor Boards lawyer how its suggestion of removal of reference to Moga a place in Punjab from the film was justifiedThe Judge also noted that in the past there was a film which dealt with how the town of Moga became a cancer town but the film did not belittle the place In the same way how would Udta Punjab malign Punjab the judge sought to knowWhile summing up advocate Kadam said that the producer was not given a hearing by the Revising Committee and hence the principles of natural justice were violatedThe film which stars Shahid Kapoor Alia Bhatt Kareena KapoorKhan and Diljit Dosanjh deals with the issue of how the youth in Punjab are succumbing to drug addictionThe censor boards suggestions include removal of abusive words from dialogue certain words from the songs references to Punjab and places in the state and deletion of closeup shots of actors injecting the drugsThe board also wants the producers to make changes in the disclaimer in the movieCBFCs suggestions sparked off a political sparring earlier this week prompting the coproducer Anurag Kashyap to ask the political parties to stay away from the controversyThe controversy acquired political overtones because Assembly polls are being held in the state next yearKashyap also hit out at the CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani calling him oligarch and dictator and said it was like living in North KoreaSeveral filmmakers including Karan Johar Mahesh Bhatt Ram Gopal Varma and Mukesh Bhatt have come out in Kashyaps support