Film fraternity stands by Udta Punjab makers

As the controversy surrounding the release of Udta Punjab, a film based on the drug abuse problem in Punjab, deepened, several filmmakers and members of the industry came out in support of the filmmakers. Filmmakers Mahesh Bhatt, Imtiaz Ali, Sudhir Mishra, Aanand L. Rai, Ekta Kapoor, Mukesh Bhatt, Abhishek Chaubey, Saurabh Varma, Zoya Akhtar attended a press conference organised by the makers of Udta Punjab on Wednesday. Actors of the film Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt were also present.

Speaking at the press conference, the film’s producer, Anurag Kashyap said it was unfortunate that they had to justify everything. He also informed the media that the makers had sent a legal notice to Mr Nihalani for not sending them the letter demanding the cuts. “I feel ashamed in denying that I have taken money from AAP to make the film,” he said.

Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt said, “During Zakhm what I was subjected to was heart-breaking. I come here to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with filmmakers and I am very glad for such a mighty turnout. Pahlaj Nihalani (Censor Board chief) till yesterday fought shoulder-to-shoulder with me against the laws of censorship. Nothing has changed.

Today it’s tragic that as we move close to the release day, the film is being strangulated. This is not the industry problem at all, this is the problem of our country.” Echoing similar sentiments, filmmaker Akhtar said, “Udta Punjab has to release the way it is, this is the fight for all of us because it could be anybody.”

Ali, who also made his presence felt, said, “I am representing myself and I haven’t seen the film yet. But anything that attacks the freedom of speech is very frustrating and I don’t think we have to tolerate it unnecessarily. The good thing is that we are together over here and we will see what happens. The reason I am here is to have the ability to say what I want and to be treated with dignity by the society.”

Mukesh Bhatt demanded that Mr Nihalani be removed from the board. Highlighting monetary losses for the film, Mukesh Bhatt asked: “Who will pay for those losses Will Nihalani pay ” He also mentioned that he spoke to the team of Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) and they told him that the process had been deliberately delayed. “This is a viscous move. I am exposing a system that is prevalent in the CBFC today and we cannot tolerate that.”

My Kashyap added: “Pahlaj has lied all day on camera today. I don’t talk to Nihalani at all, I don’t want to go through the humiliation of talking to him. We have been asked to remove Punjab and other names of cities from the film. The film doesn’t refer to any political party or leader. We are still trying to release the film on June 17.”

Reacting to the controversy, Mr Nihalani said, “When they have put a disclaimer that the film has fictitious characters but the whole movie is on Punjab and they have taken names from Punjab... Then we have a reason and as per the guidelines we can cut. That’s why we have cut.” While the makers alleged that Mr Nihalani refused to hand them the letter, which mentioned the cuts, the Censor Board chief said that the producers themselves did not collect the letter until Wednesday and instead went to the media to make the matter public.

“We met with the producers on Monday and told them about the cuts. They said, ‘If we get cuts, will you give us the certificate ’ I said, ‘Of course yes’. But they did not turn up to collect the letter. They directly went to media. Today they came to collect the letter.”