New Delhi, June 15: Fresh attempts were made today against the release of Bollywood movie ‘Udta Punjab’ on Friday with an NGO moving the Supreme Court to stall the screening of the film, while another plea by it prompted the Delhi High Court to direct the producer to modify the promos by adhering to the Bombay High Court order.
The plea seeking to stay the release was mentioned before an apex court’s vacation bench which asked the NGO Human Rights Awareness Association to first get the petition cleared from the registry.
Half-an-hour later, the NGO’s petition came up for hearing before the Delhi High Court’s bench of justices Sunil Gaur and P S Teji which directed the movie’s producer, Phantom Films, to “modify” the promos in accordance with the Bombay HC order and ensure that the “urination scene” is also withdrawn from online sites like YouTube.
With this direction, the Delhi High Court disposed of the plea filed by the NGO which, apart from seeking removal of the scene, had also sought that it be heard by the Censor Board and its appellate authority before certifying the film.
The plea before the apex court bench of justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and L Nageswara Rao sought a direction to restrain the screening of the movie on the ground that it depicted the state of Punjab in a “bad light”. However, the bench said hearing could only be given after all the formalities are cleared by the registry.
On June 13, the Bombay High Court had cleared the decks for the release of ‘Udta Punjab’ after ordering deleting of a urination scene and displaying a revised disclaimer as per which the makers would have to delete reference to Pakistan.
The Bombay High Court had also directed the film-maker to make additions to the disclaimer to the effect that the movie, its characters and the film-makers do not promote the use of drugs and abusive language, and the film is only attempting to depict the reality of drug abuse.
In the Bombay High Court, Anurag Kashyap’s Phantom Films had challenged the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) revising committee’s order of June 6 directing for a total of 13 changes in the movie.
The Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Diljit Dosanjh starrer delves into how a large number of youth in Punjab have succumbed to drugs.
