Bombay High Court Dismisses Censor Board By Clearing Udta Punjab With Only ONE Cut

Let there be relief!

After giving us a quite a scare that Udta Punjab won’t get released on time, we can now feel at ease that Censor Board has been overruled by Bombay High Court.

What started with 40 cuts – and went up to 94 cuts according to reports – Pahlaj Nihalani finally stated on Sunday that the CBFC has recommended 13 cuts for the movie. But the Bombay High Court decision nullified all that.

In a remarkable verdict, Bombay High Court cleared the film with only one cut and an A rating.

The court slammed the Censor Board for curbing “creative freedom”. It also observed that the film doesn’t “affect the sovereignty or integrity of India as claimed by CBFC”, neither does it "show Punjab in bad light".

The decision was met with excitement and relief. Most of all from Anurag Kashyap, who has been vehemently fighting to keep the movie's essence intact. 

The court also noted that as the word 'censor' is not in the Cinematograph Act of Indian Constitution, CBFC is not empowered by law to censor films. Let's hope that's enough reasoning to abolish the draconian and outdated process of censoring, once and for all.

Udta Punjab will release on 17^thJune.