New Delhi: Retorting to the remark made by censor board chief Pahlaj Nihalani that Anurag Kashyap had "taken money from AAP" to show Punjab in bad light through ‘Udta Punjab’, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today accused him of censoring the film on the direction of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Aam Admi Party leader took to micro-blogging website Twitter to make this remark, trying to drag the BJP into the picture.
“Pahlaj Nihalani's statement (linking co-producer Anurag Kashyap with the AAP) makes it amply clear he has stopped the film on BJP's instructions,” Arvind Kejriwal tweeted.
Nihalani earlier alleged that he had heard that film's producer Anurag Kashyap had "taken money from AAP" and said this was the talk in the film industry.
The makers of "Udta Punjab" -- Kashyap's Phantom Films and Balaji Motion Pictures -- have been asked by the censor board to make 89 cuts if they wanted a release certificate.
A furious Kashyap then called Nihalani, who heads the Central Board of Film Certification, an "oligarch" -- prompting Nihalani's counter.
The fight between the team of the movie and the makers turned into a political slugfest when parties like Congress and AAP alleged that the 89 said cuts and name change has a political motive in view of the upcoming elections in the state in 2017.
