Why drop ‘Punjab’ from movie title, asks HC

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), however, submitted that all the 13 changes including deletion of Punjab in the film title suggested by its Revising Committee were justified and proper. A bench headed by Justice S C Dharmadhikari was hearing a petition filed by Phantom Films, producer of ‘Udta Punjab’ which is aggrieved by an order of the Revising Committee that suggested changes in the film before its release on June 17.

Justice Dharmadhikari compared Udta Punjab with another film released earlier titled “Go, Goa, Gone” and said in that movie the state of Goa is shown as a place where people go to socialise in parties and also take banned drugs.

“If Goa can be shown as a place of drug abuse in that film, what is wrong if Punjab is shown in Udta Punjab?” asked the Judge. The Censor Board lawyer argued that the order of the Revising Committee suggesting 13 changes in the film was not arbitrary and the committee had applied its mind while making these suggestions.

“We are objecting to the reference of Punjab and its people and the language used in the film”, the lawyer argued. Hearing the arguments, the court said that it was not satisfied with the first two suggestions made by the Censor Board about removing references to places in that state such as Chandigarh, Amritsar, Tarantaran, Jashanpura, Moga and Ludhiana.