the producers of the movie udta punjab must be elated after the high court verdict which passed the movie with just one cut as against 89 proposed by cbfc.
the cbfc is a certification committee and not a censoring committee said the majority of people in the know with some even demanding the resignation of mr pahlaj nihalani!!!
let us deconstruct these issues one by one:-
1. freedom of speech - whose? your freedom of speech does not mean that you mouth expletives in my ear!!! so mouthing expletives and profanities cannot be called freedom of speech and are aimed merely to generate some shock value for the film.
2. victory of democracy - seriously?!!! does showing things such as injecting drugs amount to any glorification of democracy?
3. cbfc is only a certification commitee - yes that is true but if the cbfc does not ensure that unhealthy/violent images/words are not shown to the public then who else will. when you go with your children to a movie who will ensure that some bad/unpalatable scenes are not slipped past? what do you do then? close their eyes??
4. choice of audience - this is an absolute lie propagated by those industry people who make a living out of selling sleaze neatly packaged with a stylish tinge. the makers of such films are the most vociferous critics of cbfc and mr nihalani.
5. majority want such films - this is the biggest lie - as we see in all the media, it is people connected with the industry who are batting for such films and such expressions in films. havent seen any common people asking for such content.
6. cuss words - who introduced words like item, bomb, maal, chikni chameli, bose-dk, haramz@@de etc etc to main stream audiences? it is bollywood ofcourse. we cringe to hear such voices on the street now being used by the young but we must realise that these words are the needless blessings bollywood showered on the society. so what happens when cbfc bans some cuss words - there is a huge uproar!!!
Mr nihalani is fighting a tough battle - a one man army of sorts - think of his opponents - complete bollywood, media, all anti bjp parties and some of his own i.e cbfc and ministry.
that he stood firm and true to his job is a very valiant effort and for that mr nihalani - you are my hero. dont get ambushed by partisan media - mr nihalani pse keep up your efforts- you may not be winning right now but rest assured you are doing the right thing.
