Dear Pahlaj Nihalani
These cut - change - censor - snip - relocate dictates around
Udta Punjab come as no shocker. Nah, not just a
filmi controversy but reeks of the surcharged and highly polarized
mahaul in this country.
Intolerance going far beyond the domain from what's to be consumed to what's to be portrayed on the big screen. In fact, whilst keying in, I'm reminded of this one-liner I'd heard JNU's Kanhaiya Kumar utter during a recent public meet here: "Today there's a battle between Hindustan and Sanghistan!" Apt and hitting, for it carries the very crux of the times we are living in. Rulers of the day are using all possible strategies and tactics to sabotage the staging of truth with political ploys as never before to stop the relay of honest and stark portrayals.
Why should there be demands or dictates that the very word "Punjab" be removed? Instead, it should be shown as though shot in some fictional land! The men who dictate don't realize that this film is no fairy tale for the
babalog or
babulog of this country. Hey you politicians, wake up, this film has got to be set in Punjab for it's there where this story lies, where the focus ought to be, where drug-related disasters are unfolding and killing and ruining hundreds and thousands.
Why is the ruling Akali-BJP government trying to withhold this reality of today's Punjab? (Note: central government sources have denied any influence on the censor board's requirements). In fact, stark portrayals captured in this film should come as no shocker because anyone who has been directly or indirectly connected with Punjab has been seeing and sensing and hearing of the drug problem. In our country, where hypocrisy reigns, for the masses in and around Punjab to openly out pour and offload these disastrous build-ups is more than a hint that limits have been long crossed. Tragedy it is that this havoc is not just spreading but allowed to be spreading.
Why doesn't the present day government want us to see these disasters? Will it raise fingers at some prominent political figures who could be directly or indirectly involved in the trafficking? Will this issue be played up in the coming elections? Will it expose men who are manning the State? Will it highlight that basic fact that without political support this disaster couldn't have reached these uncontrollable levels? Will it expose nexus links, far and wide, even across the border? Will it also dent the development theories getting fed to the masses?
In fact, this latest round of controversy has brought to the fore a seemingly apparent nexus between some of the Censor men in the Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) and the political men who rule from their air-conditioned dens. They seem hand-in-glove. Political strategies and tactics in full force for blatant realities to be diluted.
Why can't filmmakers portray this or any other reality? Tomorrow if I were to make a film on the trauma faced by Mohammad Akhlaq's Dadri based family, will I be hounded to change the location, from Uttar Pradesh's Dadri to some no man's land! Or how to change the entire course of the story and its focus! Nah, not why and how Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched but who all ate those supposed 150 kilos of meaty chunks.
Hundreds and thousands could be termed technically alive in today's Punjab, but deadened they are. Slowly dying amidst an infrastructure which has failed, amidst a political system which seems more than failing.
Today's rulers harp on cleanliness. How can one even think of swish swashing dust from here to there when drugs are littered all over the place?
It's time not just films
wallahs but all of us living in our Hindustan should demand the screening of this film in its stark and undiluted format. Truth and truth alone at any cost. Let's view the truth of Punjab in this film.
I recall that when several summers back "Hotel Rwanda" was screened the India Habitat Centre, many in the audience were weeping seeing the shots of surcharged mobs killing each other during civil war in Rwanda. And together with that, even suggesting that it be screened at many more forums to send relays to the surcharged communal frenzied groups here.
After all, a film relays as no other medium can...
Sincerely,
Humra Quraishi
(Humra Quraishi is a Delhi based writer, columnist and journalist.)Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.