Abhishek Chaubey’s ‘Udta Punjab’ has been embroiled in a censorship row between filmmakers and the Censor Board over the last week. With a court decision due on Monday (13th June), CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani has confirmed that the film has been passed with an A certificate.
#UdtaPunjab has been passed by CBFC with a ‘A’ certificate. Reports of CBFC asking for movie’s title to be removed is false: Pahlaj Nihalani
��� ANI (@ANI_news) June 12, 2016
Nihalani himself has come under fire himself, with many calling on him to be replaced. He is quoted by Indian Express, “We have today cleared Udta Punjab under A (restricted for��adult audience) category after 13 cuts”.
He further added, “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”.
Initially, reports suggested that the CBFC called for 89 cuts to be made to the film which focuses on the drug abuse problem in the Punjab state. There were also reports that the film’s title may well need to be altered as the word “Punjab” was apparently part of the cuts that were ordered by the Censor Board.
Phantom Films and Balaji Motion Pictures, producers of the film, had taken the matter to court when the revising committee had asked for alterations to be made. A court decision is yet to be announced.
It will definitely come as a relief to many within the industry and more to the producers that now the film’s 17th June release date will not be missed.
The film stars Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Alia Bhatt and will also mark the debut in Bollywood of Punjabi star Diljit Dosanjh.
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