Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court today dismissed a petition seeking a stay on the release of ‘Udta Punjab’, paving way for its release on June 17.
“Court said film does not show Punjab in bad light, neither is it anti-women,” Sanjay Kaushal, counsel for film makers told media after the decision.
The court had ordered the amex query to submit a report to after watching the movie. The amex query in its submission said that there is nothing wrong in the film.
A vacation bench of justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and justice L Nageswara Rao had granted liberty to the NGO, Human Rights Awareness Association, to approach the HC with its petition.
The NGO had on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court to stall the screening of the film while another plea by it had prompted the Delhi High Court to direct the producer to modify the promos.
The plea filed before the apex court bench sought a direction to restrain the screening of the movie on the ground that it depicted the state of Punjab in a “bad light”. But the top court today declined to hear its plea.
On June 13, the Bombay HC had cleared the decks for the release of ‘Udta Punjab’ after ordering the deletion of a scene and displaying a revised disclaimer as per which the makers would have to delete reference to Pakistan.
The Bombay HC had also directed the film-maker to make additions to the disclaimer to the effect that the movie, its characters and the film-makers do not promote the use of drugs and abusive language, and the film is only attempting to depict the reality of drug abuse.
In the Bombay HC, Anurag Kashyap’s Phantom Films had challenged the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) revising committee’s order of June 6 directing for a total of 13 changes in the movie.
