Bombay High Court on Monday gave all clear to the scheduled release of Udta Punjab.
Film maker Anurag Kashyap had moved Bombay High Court changeling the cuts ordered by CBFC headed by Pahlaj Nihalani.
On Sunday, Nihalani said that the CBFC had issued certificate to Udta Punjab with A rating and 13 cuts.
The High Court on Monday directed the CBFC to issue certificate to Udta Punjab within 48 years.
“Barring the deletion of the urination scene as directed by the board and modification of the disclaimer, the June 6 order passed by the CBFC’s revising committee directing for a total of 13 changes in the movie is quashed and set aside,” the court was quoted by PTI.
In a strongly worded order, the bench comprising Justices S C Dharmadhikari and Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi said,”Do not act like a grandmother. Change as per the times now. The CBFC need not be over-sensitive in the matter of art.”
The bench also raised questions about Central Board of Film Certification’s powers to censor movies as the word censor did not figure in the Cinematograph Act and said if cuts had to be made, those should be in consonance with the Constitution and directions of the Supreme Court.
“Censor in common parlance means to certify a movie.
Therefore, if by law the board is empowered to make changes, cuts, or deletions, this power of the CBFC must be consistently in consonance with the provisions of the Constitution and the Supreme Court directions,” Justice Dharmadhikari said.
Kashyap’s lawyer said that the verdict was a vindication of their stand and also victory of their fundamental rights.
Shahid Kapoor, the lead protagonist in the film tweeted thanking everyone and calling the verdict landmark.
He tweeted, “Landmark judgement#UdtaPunjab will fly and so will the voice of freedom and expression. Thank you all for the support. This is your victory.”
Landmark judgement#UdtaPunjab will fly and so will the voice of freedom and expression. Thank you all for the support. This is your victory
— Shahid Kapoor (@shahidkapoor) June 13, 2016
Here are the highlights of the verdict:
- Give certificate to Udta Punjab within 48 hours
- On cut no 9 (Tommy Singh urinating in front of crowd , we don’t feel that this scene is necessary
- Filmmakers have been asked to remove some cuss words from song 1 and 2
- Cut suggestion no 8 not necessary.. only one close up scene of injecting drug will not violate the mandate
- Cut suggestion no 7 not needed.No need to delete the scratching scene in song no 3 suggested by CBFC.
- Cut no 6 are general words ( MP,MLA,Parliament etc), don’t refer to any outfit but reflect for general political work
- There is no need to assert or incorporate abusive words in every dialogue
- We are not in agreement that in some films cuss words have been allowed so these should be allowed here too
- As far as cut no 5 suggested by CBFC is concerned,there are some abusive words,some abusive words need to be deleted
- Udta Punjab doesn’t encourage drug addiction
- Film was not made keeping Punjab polls in mind
- Punjab is land of green revolution,brave soldier. One sentence (Zameen banjar te aulaad kanjar) can’t affect that image