Chop? Chop? Chop? Not This Time, writes Sajid Khan

The Bombay High Court’s verdict on Udta Punjab has brought a lot of cheer to the film fraternity. You see, for decades, this war has waged on between filmmakers and the Censor board. As the Censor Board members keep changing down the years, so do their values of what should be cut and what shouldn’t. Sometimes full nudity is passed without any cuts (Gauhariya, 2014), whereas a harmless kiss is entirely chopped off (Spectre, 2015), Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985) has aesthetic nudity and is passed without a cut for, ahem…..universal viewing! Following suit, The Adventures Of Tarzan  (1985) also had ample and shocking nudity (no, I’m not talking about Hemant Birje’s breasts) for a ‘U’ certificate. The makers of sex-comedies, who have faced the wrath of the Censors of late and finally released their films with multiple cuts and an ‘A’ certificate must be wishing that the 80s were back. Why? The maximum number of vulgar, double meaning films were released in the 80s with no cuts and a ‘U’ certificate (Aah, definitely the good old days!). Udta Punjab’s triumph over the Censor Board is unanimous, but unlike most media people are reporting, it definitely isn’t the first time. In the past, there were a few defiant filmmakers who went to the courts and won their case against the Board.

1 Jaani Dushman (1979): Rajkumar Kohli’s multi-starrer horror film was stuck with the Censors for a long time as the maker was not willing to cut certain scenes. Finally he took the film to court, got an ‘A’ certificate and released the film with the scenes intact. The film was a big hit. A couple of Censor Board members even bought tickets in black!

2 Bandit Queen (1994): Shekhar Kapur’s shockingly real depiction of Phoolan Devi and her tragic life was hard-hitting and uneasy to watch. I guess, the maker intended you to feel Phoolan Devi’s pain. A BBC production, the movie got rave reviews worldwide, but was banned in India. Whether it was political pressure on the Censors or just their own moral codes, one doesn’t know. The makers decided to go to court and won the case against the Censors. The film was released and was a huge hit. Till today, the industry joke is Bandit Queen was banned in between. The makers won, the Censor Board lost.

3 Meri Awaaz Suno (1981): This Jeetendra-Hema Malini starrer was also banned as it showed certain politicians to be corrupt. There were also excessive violence scenes. Finally the courts made the makers victorious. But, with a slight change. Our country, ‘Hindustan’ had to be changed to a fictitious country called ‘Mundustan’. The makers had to even shoot a three-minute prologue describing the film as a complete work of fiction! “The film the government doesn’t want you to see” publicity worked miracles at the box-office for the film. Meri Awaaz Suno was the first film which was released with 6 am and 9 am shows, before the regular four shows.

4 Kissa Kursi Ka (1978): This film was a political satire about a corrupt politician, but was banned during the Emergency. The makers fought hard in court and finally won the battle. The film was released much to the dismay of the Censor Board.

Full marks to the makers of Udta Punjab for their resilience and belief. It’s not that other film-makers don’t want to walk on this path. They do. But most of the times, they can’t. You see everything happens last minute and nobody wants to take a chance and miss a release date and incur huge financial losses. But, sometimes long shots do pay-off. And in this case it certainly has.