Udta Punjab makers move to Bombay High Court against Censor Board's verdict

The makers of the upcoming Bollywood movie Udta Punjab have now decided to approach the Bombay High Court against the Censor Board revising committee's verdict.

After the Censor Board refused to issue a certificate to the Abhishek Chaubey-directed film, the revising committee had given even harsher suggestions to the makers, in order to obtain the certificate.

Recommendations/objections of the reviewing committee have assumed political overtones.

It is being reported that the committee wants the film to be set in a fictional land rather than in Punjab and is demanding at least 89 cuts.

Meanwhile, Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani has finally addressed the ongoing controversy.

Defending the move, CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani told the Economic Times: "98% of the film is in Punjabi and based entirely in Punjab. It is not a Hindi film at all. It has a defamatory reference to people in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and other cities of Punjab. It paints all Punjabis in a bad light. Such a movie if released will bring a bad name to the community that is present everywhere in the world."

According to a report in NewsX, the Censor Board Chief also said that instead of moving to the court Anurag Kashyap approached the media with the issue.

Among the other major cuts, the CBFC has also told the makers to change the name of a dog in the film from Jackie Chan to Jackie as it was offensive to the Chinese actor.

Udta Punjab releases on 17 June 2016.

--With ANI inputs