Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 13, 2016)
While the Abhishek Chaubey directorial Udta Punjab, embroiled in controversy over its drugs-related theme, waits for the High Court judgement that will be announced today, another film with a similar subject has been cleared with a 'U' certificate.
The writer-producer and director of the Punjabi film, Dhee Punjab Di, Baljeet Singh believes that the makers of the Bollywood drama have misrepresented his state and blown up the drugs issue for their monetary benefit. “I plan to file a defamation case against Ekta Kapoor and Abhishek Chaubey today. I've called for a press conference in Amritsar. Yes, drugs are a problem in the state but it is not as big as it's being portrayed in their film. My film had a couple of scenes of a young man snorting drugs, I was told to edit them. Once I complied, my film was passed. Why can't the Udta Punjab makers do the same? They don't care about how they are portraying the state,“ he said.
Singh's film which features Satwinder Bitti and Jaspinder Cheema will open on August 19. He doesn't think Udta Punjab that is scheduled for this Friday deserves to be released. “The makers claim that they have researched the drugs issue in Punjab, if so they should present proof. They claim drugs come from across the border, are they accusing our BSF jawans, who are fighting for our security, and the Central government of being involved in this racket? The gaalis Shahid Kapoor's character uses liberally have only been added to increase ticket sales without caring what message reaches the audience,“ he grouses.
The writer-producer and director of the Punjabi film, Dhee Punjab Di, Baljeet Singh believes that the makers of the Bollywood drama have misrepresented his state and blown up the drugs issue for their monetary benefit. “I plan to file a defamation case against Ekta Kapoor and Abhishek Chaubey today. I've called for a press conference in Amritsar. Yes, drugs are a problem in the state but it is not as big as it's being portrayed in their film. My film had a couple of scenes of a young man snorting drugs, I was told to edit them. Once I complied, my film was passed. Why can't the Udta Punjab makers do the same? They don't care about how they are portraying the state,“ he said.
Singh's film which features Satwinder Bitti and Jaspinder Cheema will open on August 19. He doesn't think Udta Punjab that is scheduled for this Friday deserves to be released. “The makers claim that they have researched the drugs issue in Punjab, if so they should present proof. They claim drugs come from across the border, are they accusing our BSF jawans, who are fighting for our security, and the Central government of being involved in this racket? The gaalis Shahid Kapoor's character uses liberally have only been added to increase ticket sales without caring what message reaches the audience,“ he grouses.