I think everyone celebrated Udta Punjab‘s victory against the Censor Board at a very individual level. For all of us who’ve seen the film, we know that one should never attempt to censor the showcase of truth, and for all of us who’ve not seen the film – erm, what you doing, buddy? Book your ticket now!
Vikas Bahl, one of the producers of Udta Punjab and one of my favourite Bollywood directors, spoke to me about the Censor Board, the problem with it and made a revelation about his film Queen that’s still blowing my mind.
About the Udta Punjab fight, he said:
There was a point for sure when we felt totally defeated, where we didn’t have any clue what could the next step be. I think we got pushed against the wall too much and when that happens, something comes out of that – and I think this was exactly that. There was some sort of belief system in everyone that kept us going. We were like let’s fight it out now, not think about the repercussions and see where we land up by the end of it.
He added:
What is happening is because of the censorship issue, you’re actually playing with people’s heads in the future, not in the present. When you do this to an Abhishek Choubey this time, you can imagine what state of mind he’ll be in when he goes to make his next film. And that’s exactly what we wanted to prevent.
And then he told me this:
When I shot Queen and I sent it for the Censor approval, in a song there’s a shot of Lisa (Haydon) coming on a cycle. When I shot the scene I told Lisa ‘you know how kids come down on a slope and they open their legs and they just let the winds blow’ and the Censor Board told me it was an obscene scene. Because there’s a basket in between her legs and they told me I’m trying to portray something else or it’s suggesting something else. I could not even understand how their mind went there! I didn’t know what to say.