There have been lot of controversies surrounding ‘Udta Punjab’s’ certification. The board felt, it wasn’t apt to highlight the drug abuse issue in Punjab. Now, in midst of all this, the upcoming film of Baljeet Singh, ‘Dhee Punjab Di’ has passed with a ‘U’ certificate. Well, the movie revolves around the issues of Punjab drug epidemic and female foeticide.
The movie is set to release on the 19th of August and as per reports, Baljeet says that it isn’t an anti-Punjab community movie. He adds;
“CBFC has cleared my film with a ‘U’ certificate. When I took my film to them for certification, they just asked me to cut one particular scene where a young boy snorts drug,”
Baljeet adds;
“They said that ‘Your film deserves a ‘U’ certificate as drugs is a pan-India issue today and it’s not just restricted to Punjab’. These things are also happening in states like Haryana, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. They said it won’t look good if a kid will see how a character in the film is snorting drugs. So, I chopped that scene myself,”
However, talking about ‘Udta Punjab’, Baljeet Singh says that it is an ‘Anti-Punjab culture’ film and portrays Punjab in a ‘negative-way’. Shahid Kapoor has used very bad language in the movie, says Baljeet. He adds that such language is not only against Punjab but against the entire Indian culture.
Another thing that reports say Baljeet feels is that no one from the industry is against ‘Udta Punjab’, since it is backed by biggies like Phantom Films of Anurag Kashyap and Balaji Motion Pictures of Ekta Kapoor. He adds people are scared of Ekta Kapoor ruining their career if they would speak against her.
Baljeet, who is also a resident of Punjab says he is very disappointed with the way makers have portrayed Punjab. He said;
“I’ll organise a press conference in Amritsar tomorrow (Monday) for my film. On Tuesday, I’ll burn effigies of Shahid, Anurag and Ekta Kapoor at Matka Chowk, Chandigarh. If they will apologise to us, then only we will allow the film to release in Punjab, otherwise we’ll protest against them,”
Further expressing disappointment, Baljeet said that
“Even I’ll ask our Punjab Chief Minister (Parkash Singh Badal) to take strict actions against them. If the government gives a green light to the film, then we will stand up against the government also. I think it’s a fabricated controversy going around the film and they (makers of ‘Udta Punjab’) are being misguided by some agency. Because of this, they will definitely see a financial loss,”
Baljeet is going to file a defamation case against Ekta, Anurag and Shahid. Moreover, on Friday, he would be protesting against Ekta Kapoor in front of her Mumbai office.
