Flight of ‘Udta Punjab’ delayed in Pakistan

Initial review panels at central, Punjab censor boards deny the film a release, ball in court of full boards

KARACHI: With the controversies that it sparked in its wake, it was only a matter of time that Abhishek Chaubey’s Udta Punjab would run into trouble with Pakistani censor watchdogs. Initial review panels at both the central and Punjab censors have denied the film a release and have forwarded the case to their full boards.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC) Chairperson Mobasher Hasan said, “There is a lot of swearing in the movie. So much that there are dialogues that have more than two or three swear words in them.”

He was skeptical whether the movie can be screened in Pakistan with an Adult rating. “The problem is that even if the movie is granted an Adult rating, it would still have the necessary cuts and beeps,” Hasan noted, adding, “And there are close to 200 scenes that need to be muted because of the vile language.”



Unsurprisingly, language is not the only issue. “Swearing is not the only reason for the decision. The movie also touches upon the controversial topic of pill and drug addiction,” stated another CBFC official, requesting anonymity.



Interestingly, while the film was rejected by panels at the aforementioned boards, rumour has it that Sindh censors have passed the film with a few excisions and beeps. No official was available from the Sindh Board of Film Censors for a comment.

The CBFC full board was tasked with reviewing the film on Monday. However, no decision had been made till the filing of this report. On the other hand, a Punjab Board of Film Censors official said their full board is likely to meet for the film’s screening on Wednesday.

Under fire

This is not the first instance of Udta Punjab running into trouble with authorities. Prior to its release in India, Indian Central Board of Film Certification had sought a stay order on the movie, on grounds that the themes it deals with are too mature for general audiences. The film-makers were later asked by their revising committee to remove any references to Punjab in the film, which resulted in a list of 89 cuts. The decision was later overturned by the Bombay High Court with the number of cuts being brought down to just one, where a characters is seen urinating. The court had directed the board to issue an Adult certificate prior to the movie’s release.



However, it turned out the censors were the least of the film-maker’s worry as the movie was leaked online a couple of days before its scheduled release. According to Indiatimes.com the leaked prints had the watermarks ‘For Censors’, fueling rumours that the copies were part of the samples shared with Indian censors.

Commenting on the film’s leak, a spokesperson of the film studio told The Huffington Post, “Two copies of the CD were sent to the censor board and this version is from the same source. It’s literally a no-brainer to conclude where the leak has come from and, sure enough, the cyber-crime cell will get to the bottom of this.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2016.

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