Punjab government has no intention of stopping the release of 'Udta Punjab': SAD

With the Bombay High Court clearing the decks for the release of 'Udta Punjab', the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday said it has no objection to the release of the film, adding that the people will decide the fate of the Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt starrer.

"The state government has no intention of stopping the release of the film," Punjab Education Minister and SAD secretary and spokesman Daljeet Singh Cheema said on Monday.

"It is the people who will decide whether to see it (the film) or not," Cheema said while asserting that the Akali government was never opposed to freedom of expression. He was asked to comment on the court verdict.

The Bombay High Court on Monday cleared the decks for the release of 'Udta Punjab' whose makers had locked horns with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) over multiple cuts demanded by the board. The High Court ordered the makers to delete a scene where Shahid Kapoor was seen urinating on the audience at a rock concert and display a revised disclaimer.

Cheema said it was up to the censor board now whether to allow the release of the film or challenge the verdict.

"We have not seen the film. Whatever the court has done is right. It is up to the censor board what decision it takes. We, as government, are nowhere in the picture," he said.

Alleging AAP's "hand" in the making of 'Udta Punjab', SAD had earlier asked the party's convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to accept AAP's role in the making of the film as "his own tweets to welcome the film's co-producer Sameer Nair had exposed the truth that the producer was an 'active member' of the Aam Aadmi Party".

Meanwhile, reacting to Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh's statement that he would eradicate the drug problem in the state within a month of Congress forming the government in the next Assembly elections in 2017, Cheema said, "It means, he knows there is no drug problem in the state. When Amarinder stops raking up the drug issue, the problem will end. Till elections, both Amarinder and Kejriwal will continue to raise this issue."

Meanwhile, Congress and AAP on Monday welcomed the court's decision.

"I am glad that the Court has cleared the film with a single cut. Otherwise, left to a partisan censor board, the film would have been bereft of its soul," Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh said in a statement.

The HC verdict, he added, has vindicated all who stood by the makers of the film as it reflected "the harsh reality of Punjab". Besides, he hoped, it will open the eyes of those who have always "preferred to keep them shut and live in denial".

The former Chief Minister said this should come as a "lesson" for the likes of Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Badal who, in their "characteristic denial mode", instead of admitting and acknowledging the problem, had accused the filmmakers of defaming Punjab, like the way they had accused Rahul Gandhi when he had raised the issue four years ago.

AAP MP from Sangrur Bhagwant Mann and party leader Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi said, the film seems to "depict the reality of the drug menace" in Punjab and needs to be released without any delay.

Mann in a statement said, "As the Bombay High Court has cleared the film for release with one cut, it clearly shows that all the hue-and-cry was being made for political purposes. Now, the Akali-BJP leaders should watch the film closely so that they could know the reality of Punjab."

"Art is the reflection of any society, there should be no politics in that. The Akali-BJP should abstain from politicising institutions related to art and culture," said Ghuggi.

"How can you dictate a maker about the context and plot of any film? Is the Akali-BJP alliance above the Constitution which guarantees the freedom of speech and expression," he added.