MUMBAI: Udta Punjab makers have decided not to release mega movie in Pakistan amid sensor board controversy.
Udta Punjab may have come out victorious in the battle against the Indian censor board, but it failed to make the Pakistan CBFC see sense. So after Pakistan’s CBFC demanded 100 cuts in the film, the makers have declared that they will not release Udta Punjab in the country.
Pakistan’s CBFC has asked for at least 100 cuts and several words to be beeped out before allowing the film to be released in the country.
Director Abhishek Chaubey told Times of India, “It definitely means loss of revenue if the film is not released in Pakistan. But more than that… it would make no sense to release it with the said cuts. The film is intended to convey something and make a point.”
After fighting a legal battle in his own country to reject the 89 cuts proposed by CBFC and its Chief Pahlaj Nihalani, Chaubey further said, “There is no scope to fight our case in Pakistan. So, we decided not to release the film there.”
Fakhr-e-Alam, Chairman Censor Board Sindh after watching the film, have asked the distributors to make changes to the film.
“We have told the distributor to delete the bad language, swear words — which are extremely explicit and in direct conflict with the law and censor code. We will [then] review to see that the compliance has been adhered to and then issue a certificate,” Alam said.
Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC) Chairperson Mobasher Hasan expressed great shock at the contents of the film and said that at times, one sentence has two or more swear words.
“The problem is that even if the movie is granted an Adult rating, it would still have the necessary cuts and beeps. And there are close to 200 scenes that need to be muted because of the vile language,” Hasan told the paper.
Justifying the use of swear words and explicit language in the film, Chaubey said this was how the film’s characters would have spoken in the real life.
“There was a bigger message that we wanted to convey with the movie and that was against drug peddling and drug abuse. The film had to reflect reality,” TOI quoted him saying.
Shahid Kapoor starrer Udta Punjab, which nears Rs500 million mark in six days was leaked two days before its release in the theatres. Chaubey believes, although the film is doing good, the collections could have been far more better if the movie had not been leaked on the internet.
The original post appeared in Huff Post India.
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