Is the battle between Anurag Kashyap and Pahlaj Nihalani over Udta Punjab an issue over censorship or a political imbroglio, with Punjab set for elections next year?

On Wednesday, the Bollywood fraternity put up a united front to take Nihalani, Chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), head-on over the escalating controversy surrounding Udta Punjab , a co-production between Kashyap’s Phantom Films and Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Motion Pictures.

The producers moved the Bombay High Court, seeking a copy of the order passed by CBFC’s Review Committee, which supposedly suggested 89 cuts in the movie and removal of reference to Punjab. The matter is expected to be taken up on Thursday.

The producers also moved the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), an official from FCAT told BusinessLine . A lot is at stake for the producers considering the movie, which highlights Punjab’s drug problem, is slated to be released on June 17.

The two concerned were holding their own press interactions, but after Nihalani accused Kashyap of taking money from the Aam Aadmi Party for funding the movie, the party too, jumped into the fray and refuted charges.

Rubbishing Nihalani’s allegations at a press conference here, AAP leader Ashish Khetan accused him of being “a stooge of the Modi-Badal government” in Punjab; the two parties have been contesting elections jointly the past 10 years. “It is clear that the reason for withholding the film’s release is political,” he said.

‘Attack on Freedom of expression’ At a press briefing in Mumbai, attended by a host of filmmakers and actors, besides the entire team of Udta Punjab , Kashyap said it was a fight to save their freedom of expression.

He said, “It is unfortunate that we have to justify our honesty and integrity as filmmakers.”

Imtiaz Ali, director and producer, said: “Anything that attacks freedom of expression is very irritating. We are all together and will speak up.” While speaking in favour of Kashyap, producer Mukesh Bhatt said: “I appeal to the Board to remove Nihalani, he doesn’t deserve to be the CBFC chief,” Bhatt said.

Actor Shahid Kapoor, who plays a rock-star in the movie, stressed the importance of the movie to educate the youth about the drug problem, stating, “We live in the age of information and technology, where the youth have the right to be informed.”

Others in the entertainment industry have supported this view for spreading awareness about the dangers of drugs and the lack of rehab centres in the State.

Govt to stay out On their part, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting sources said they cannot intervene in the certification process for movies. They said there is a clear process of certification, under which film makers can approach the Appellate Tribunal, which is a quasi-judicial body, after it’s reviewed by an examining committee and the revising committee, under the three-tier process.

Official sources pointed to a Supreme Court judgement of November 2000 (Union of India versus KM Shankarappa), which states that the Secretary or Minister cannot sit in appeal or revision over the decisions made by the CBFC or the FCAT.

The judgment states that “the Appellate Tribunal consists of experts and decides matters quasi-judicially. A secretary and/or Minister cannot sit in appeal or revision over those decisions. At the highest, the government may apply to the Tribunal itself for a review, if circumstances so warrant. But the government would be bound by the ultimate decision of the Tribunal.”

An official pointed out that Kashyap had approached the FCAT for his movie Raman Raghavan 2.0 recently.

The appeal challenged the decision of the Examining Committee of the CBFC and FCAT gave an order on May 31, asking for six cuts out of the recommended 11 cuts and directed CBFC to grant an ‘A’ certificate to the film, only after the cuts were made.

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