Director Abhishek Chaubey, who found himself at the centre of one of Bollywood’s biggest controversies of the last decade when his film Udta Punjab came under the CBFC’s scanner, said that were a similar situation to transpire today, the industry wouldn’t stand up for him like it did. Released in 2016, Udta Punjab was heavily censored by the CBFC, which advised the filmmakers to remove all references to Punjab. The crime film dealt directly with the drug epidemic in the state.
At the time, producer Anurag Kashyap led the resistance against then-CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani, while several prominent members of the film industry voiced support for Chaubey. In an interview with Sucharita Tyagi, the director said that he wouldn’t get the same level of support were he to find himself in a similar predicament now. “The times have changed,” he said.
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He continued, “Firstly, I was very naive. Sudip (Sharma, writer) and I both made that film thinking we’re honestly doing some very good work. Udta Punjab is a unique film in my filmography because that was the one film where the social responsibility was heavier on me than trying to make a great film. I was deeply aware and disturbingly aware of what is going on. And that’s a tricky place to be in as a filmmaker. It was great when the industry turned up. I was overwhelmed. But times have changed. The powers that be have become very, very smart, and they know how to manipulate the system much better. And they have much more power than us.”
Chaubey said that the only way forward is to ‘beat the system’, like people in China and Iran. Starring Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Diljit Dosanjh, Udta Punjab was released with modifications, but days prior to its debut, it was leaked on piracy websites, hurting its performance at the box office. Chaubey is now gearing up for the release of his dark comedy series Killer Soup, starring Konkona Sensharma and Manoj Bajpayee.
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