Udta Punjab leaked online; Supreme Court refuses to hear new plea to block film’s release

Reports suggest that the leaked copy being shared online is the version that was earlier sent to the Indian censor board for certification.

From left, Bollywood actors Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosanjh attend a news conference for their upcoming film Udta Punjab in Mumbai on June 14, 2016. A top court told India's film censor board on June 13 not to act "like a grandmother" as it overturned a controversial demand by the notoriously strict body for 13 cuts to a film depicting drug addiction. PUNIT PARANJPE / AFP
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The troubles of Bollywood film Udta Punjab (Punjab Flying High) don't seem to end. In two separate incidents, a copy of the controversial drama about drug addiction was leaked online on June 15, fewer than 24 hours before the film opens in the UAE; and the Supreme Court on June 16 threw out a petition by the Human Rights Awareness Association, an NGO based in the northern Indian state of Punjab, to block its release, mere days after the Bombay High Court gave it the all clear, barring one cut and a disclaimer. The Punjab and Haryana high courts have also cleared the film.

Udta Punjab, directed by Abhishek Chaubhey and starring Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Alia Bhatt, had been locked in a legal battle with the Central Board of Film Certification for weeks before the high court overturned the CBFC's decision to cut 13 scenes that censor board chief Pahlaj Nihalani said would defame and offend the sentiments of Punjab.

Reports suggest that the leaked copy is the version that was sent to the Indian censor board for certification. The film’s production houses, Balaji Motion Pictures and Phantom Films, have contacted India’s cyber crime-fighting agency for help. So far, more than 600 links to the pirated film have been discovered and disabled, with unconfirmed reports that some of them contain a crippling virus.

Meanwhile, Bollywood celebrities including Karan Johar and Abhishek Bachchan have taken to Twitter to remind fans that downloading pirated films is illegal, and to watch the film in the cinema. Udta Punjab releases on Thursday, June 16 in the UAE and on Friday, June 17 in India.

artslife@thenational.ae