Paanch to Udta Punjab: Why censor board calls cut on Anurag Kashyap films
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has been a poster boy for independent cinema for long, but he has also been involved in a long and bloodied battle with CBFC, commonly referred to as the censor board in the country. Before Udta Punjab, Paanch, Black Friday and Bombay Velvet were the other films by Anurag Kashyap that ran into trouble with the censor board.
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has been a poster boy for independent cinema for long, but he has also been involved in a long and bloodied battle with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), commonly referred to as the censor board in the country.
He is currently fighting the battle for Udta Punjab, wherein the board has asked for a lot of cuts and demanded dropping of the term Punjab from the title. His fight with the board began as early as his first film which has not been released till date. Anurag is the co-producer of the film that stars Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Diljit Dosanjh in lead roles.
Read: How censor made Udta Punjab bleed
Watch Udta Punjab trailer
In his first film Paanch, the board had objected to violence, bad language and showing of drug abuse, but it was cleared by revising committee after a few cuts and two disclaimers. Though the film could never see the light of the day as the producer ran into a financial problem, it is available on the net.
Watch Kay Kay Menon in Paanch
His next film Black Friday was cleared uncut by the censors but its release was stalled by courts as the Mumbai blasts case was still under trial. However, the film was cleared by Justice Sabharwal, even before the verdict came out. “With a lot of innocence I made Black Friday, that one film took away all my innocence …in the process of getting the film out I became aware of what you can say, what you can’t and what you should,” said Kashyap.
Read: How can a ‘Punjab’ signboard pose threat to India? Bombay HC asks CBFC
In 2013, Kashyap took on the board along with the I&B ministry and health ministry after the board refused to certify his film as he had refused to bow down to the diktat of carrying ‘Smoking Is Injurious To Health’ message.
Watch Nawazuddin in Black Friday
Kashyap and the board were at loggerheads again when he was gearing up for the release of Bombay Velvet that was given an A certificate in contrast to his demand of U/A certificate . Later, Kashyap took the film to the revising committee and the film was given U/A certificate.
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