Anurag Kashyap vs Pahlaj Nihalani: Both sides of the Udta Punjab controversy

During times when it has become all about taking sides and giving a political angle to every issue, it’s important to hear both sides of the story, before making a decision on who’s right or wrong.

We’ve already covered Anurag Kashyap‘s side of the story in detail. But below are a few statements that he has given to the media (from different sources, including social media):

• I always wondered what it felt like to live in North Korea .. Ab to plane pakadney ki bhi zaroorat nahin..
• There is no film more honest than UDTA PUNJAB .. And any person or party opposing it is actually GUILTY of promoting drugs
• I request Congress, AAP and other political parties to stay out of my battle. It’s my Rights vs the Censorship. I speak only on my behalf
• It’s my fight Vs a dictatorial man sitting there operating like an oligarch in his constituency of censor board, that’s my North Korea
• All the trolls referring to Paanch and BF and others.. Sorry they had not invented Twitter then you idiots. Fight was the sam
• FYI I have fought the UPA more on censorship issues than the NDA. But you know what , there was no Nihalani then. So the paid trolls can FO
• It’s pathetic that the party supported and paid trolls are trying to make me look like an agent of congress or AaP. Where as I have been working closely with this ministry and the MOS mr. Rathore on the censorship issues
• I have all our texts and messages saved so if the government is trying to make there incompetence look good then they’ve picked a wrong person
• It is our job as a Producer to fight for the film. We want to release the film on June 17 otherwise the financial repercussions will be huge, massive, humungous losses that one will suffer.
• They want us to remove city names, words like MLA, MLCs. All these things have been told in person. He is not putting it on paper. The moment he puts it on paper we have the option to go to the tribunal. We can’t go to the tribunal because he has not put anything on paper.
• I am saying everybody is supporting or not supporting with their own agenda. For me I am not a person with an agenda. I want this film to come out. I am an artiste; I want to know my rights. Please explain my rights clearly to me.
• Anybody protesting that Punjab is being presented in a bad light is all hogwash, it is all bullshit. None of that is true.
• He (Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani) is making it very apparent. He calls people and says that. I praised him when he passed the trailer of Udta Punjab. I kept him out of the conversation. He has an imaginary problem. His problem is that why am I not going to him to be his slave to solve my problem. I don’t want to. I don’t want to go through the humiliation of sitting there and seeing my film being mutilated while he teaches me Cinema of which he has zero understanding of where it is going now.

Excerpts from Pahlaj Nihalani‘s interview with Hindustan Times (You can read the full interview here)

• On 89 cuts: “Who has counted these cuts? The producers of Udta Punjab have not even implemented any cuts in the film as yet. So how does the media know about the number of cuts?”
• On whether he has met Anurag Kashyap: “I haven’t met him even once about Udta Punjab. We’ve never spoken on this matter. In the past when a film produced by him — NH 10 — was in censor trouble, I did my best to help him follow the censor guidelines. When there was objection to his title Bombay Velvet, we at the CBFC passed the title to ensure Mr Kashyap’s creative urges do not get suppressed. Now when he is not getting his way with the CBFC, I’m the biggest villain in the creative world. So be it. Mr Kashyap is like a child being denied a toy.
• “I believe he has called me an extremely egotistical man. A lot of people feel the same about him.”
• “Do all those TV anchors and their panellists who are shouting down the CBFC and calling me all sorts of names understand what they are talking about? Do they know the issues involved?”
• “Udta Punjab claims to mirror the truth about the whole of Punjab. According to the film, 70% of the youngsters are drug addicts. Where did they get this figure from? The film’s dialogue explicitly states Punjab is banjar (barren) land and the people are kanjar (wayward, promiscuous). Tell me is this not vilifying the whole of Punjab?”
• On the film having a disclaimer that it’s a work of fiction and not reality: “What is the disclaimer worth when after claiming to be a work of fiction the film proceeds to name every major town in Punjab from Amritsar to Tarn Taran as a drug den? How is it a work of fiction when you are naming real towns from Punjab? When Kashyap and his gang of Wasseypur calls me egotistical and someone called Suhel Seth feels I have feeble intellect, I’d like them to use their highly developed intelligence to understand that the CBFC is not controlled by me. There’s a committee which I head. Yes, I’ve the final authority to ask for changes before certification. It’s an authority given to me by the government. I repeat for the umpteenth time — I am only following the guidelines. And, I’ll continue to do so even if intellectuals like Kashyap and Seth abuse me for doing my job.
• “The CBFC has never stopped any film from being released on time. When Udta Punjab came to us for certification, we found the film carpeted with the filthiest abuses. Almost every line that Shahid Kapoor speaks is filled with the most explicit abuses and gaalis (expletives) that even I had never heard. We said ok let him abuse when his character is under the influence of drugs. But, why should he talk like that when normal? Who speaks like that in everyday conversations? We’ve even allowed Alia Bhatt to abuse. But we couldn’t allow Punjab to be damned and labeled a drug haven.”
• “Let him fight it out. Then don’t blame us for the delay in release. It wasn’t Kashyap who came to us for censoring. Jeetendra ji on behalf of Balaji Telefilms and film director Abhishek Choubey came for the censoring. We suggested the cuts, which they agreed to take and promised to return after making the cuts. But, instead Anurag Kashyap decided to go to the media. He wants to know why we haven’t given him a formal letter about the cuts. It’s because the film is with the revising committee. Until they come to a decision, we cannot issue a formal letter.”
• “All those who are talking about creative freedom should first see the film. How are they discussing Udta Punjab without seeing the context in which we have suggested the cuts?”
• “Let me make this very clear. There is no political pressure whatsoever on the censor board regarding Udta Punjab. The CBFC is being allowed to do its job. Anurag Kashyap approached Mr Arun Jaitley but it was made very clear that the government does not interfere in censorship.”