Himanshi Dhawan & Avijit Ghosh (THE TIMES OF INDIA; June 8, 2016)
Udta Punjab, a dark drama on drug menace among the young and the desperate in the northern state, rode into the centre of a raging debate on censorship with distinct political overtones after reportedly being subjected to 89 cuts, including dropping the reference to Punjab throughout.On Tuesday, Anurag Kashyap, the film's co-producer, posted a series of combative tweets comparing the censor board boss Pahlaj Nihalani to “a dictatorial man... operating like an oligarch“ and likened home conditions to those in North Korea. He also snubbed a supportive Arvind Kejriwal and the Congress, asking them to keep away from the controversy even as the Akali Dal-BJP combine joined the verbal battle. As news of the cuts sought by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) broke, Kashyap tweeted, “I always wondered what it felt like to live in North Korea. Ab to plane pakadney ki bhi zaroorat nahin.“ He also said, “There is no film more honest than Udta Punjab. And any person or party opposing it is actually guilty of promoting drugs.'' To this, Kejriwal remarked on Twitter, “I absolutely agree.“ Kashyap now tweeted, “I request Congress, AAP and other political parties to stay out of my battle. It's my Rights vs the Censorship. I speak only on my behalf. It's my fight vs a dictatorial man sitting there operating like an oligarch in his constituency of censor board, that's my North Korea. Rest of you go pick your own fights. I will fight mine. So please don't colour my fight with any political affiliation because there is none.“
Kashyap's movies often take a walk on the wild side of the human heart. Films such as Gulaal, Gangs Of Wasseypur and Ugly are an irresistible smorgasbord of slick storytelling and celebratory violence. But the 43-year-old director has locked horns with the censors in the past as well. The unreleased Paanch (2001), partly inspired by the gruesome Joshi-Abhyankar Pune murders of the 1970s, ran into censorship trouble. Black Friday (2007), based on the 1993 Bombay blasts, saw release only after a lengthy battle with the scissors. Udta Punjab was scheduled to release on June 17 but that seems unlikely at the moment.
On Tuesday, he also found backing from @OfficeOfRG, a verified account of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, which posted, “Punjab has a crippling drug problem. Censoring #UdtaPunjab will not fix it. The government must accept the reality and find solutions.“ The Rahul tweet was posted after Kashyap had requested Congress to stay out of the controversy.
Government sources distanced themselves from the debate saying that the producers were free to appeal before the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT). “Our intention is clear. We have nothing to do with approving or censoring a film. It is for this reason itself that we have a three-tier process. The filmmakers can appeal the decision made by one panel to another panel and then approach the FCAT. Both are government appointed bodies, so why is it that the Centre is blamed for the CBFC's decision to introduce cuts but not given credit when the film is approved by the FCAT without any cuts? There is no government role,'' a source said.
CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani did not respond to calls but government sources also added that the impression that the film was based on a social cause was a fallacy. “With the state elections just eight months away, the film was designed to take advantage of the political situation. It reeks of politicization of the film. To say that the film is highlighting a social cause doesn't wash. Drugs are a pan-India problem. Why choose to highlight Punjab? And if the reason for making the film was to highlight the problem, then the filmmakers should have no problem with dropping the state's name and replacing it with a fictional one,'' the source said.
While some sections of the SAD sought a ban on the film, Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal said in Ropar, “How could the state government be held responsible for it when CBFC is exclusively under the control of government of India?“ Punjab BJP chief and Union minister Vijay Sampla welcomed the Board's move and said any attempt to “defame“ Punjab should be dealt with sternly. “Nobody should be allowed to defame Punjab...why did the producers name the movie Udta Punjab? Why not Udta Bollywood...the drug problem is a global issue. Why is one state being singled out?,“ he said.
Sampla asked opposition parties to rise above their “political interests“ and not allow anybody to “defame“ Punjab in any manner. “Be it the ruling party or opposition, every effort should be made to protect the image of the state at any cost,“ he said.
AAP MP Bhagwant Mann said, “The Censor Board has acted against Udta Punjab at the behest of SAD-BJP-led state government. It is an attack on freedom of speech. By indulging in such acts, the state government cannot hide the reality of Punjab by pushing the state into a drug menace during its nine-year rule.'' Director-actor Farhan Akhtar tweeted, “Power is the most dangerous addiction of all & someone in the CBFC seems to be tripping hard on Lassi in the Sky with Diamonds. #UdtaPunjab“ In another tweet, Kashyap compared his ordeal to Joseph K, the protagonist of Czech writer Franz Kafka's novel, The Trial. The character goes through a harrowing trial for an alleged crime he knows nothing of. “Joseph Ka Mukadama was a Hindi play adaptation of which famous Czech novel?? We are back there,“ he tweeted.