The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), however, submitted that all the 13 changes including deletion of Punjab in the film title suggested by its Revising Committee were justified and proper.
A bench headed by Justice S C Dharmadhikari was hearing a petition filed by Phantom Films, producer of 'Udta Punjab' which is aggrieved by an order of the Revising Committee that suggested changes in the film before its release on June 17.
"If Goa can be shown as a place of drug abuse in that film, what is wrong if Punjab is shown in Udta Punjab?" asked the Judge.
The Censor Board lawyer argued that the order of the Revising Committee suggesting 13 changes in the film was not arbitrary and the committee had applied its mind while making these suggestions.
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"We are objecting to the reference of Punjab and its people and the language used in the film", the lawyer argued.
On other suggestions of Revising Committee, the Censor Board lawyer said he would make submissions tomorrow, following which the court deferred the matter.
However, Ravi Kadam, Counsel for Phantom Films, the production company of Anurag Kashyap, said the impugned order was issued without any application of mind and was arbitrary.
"Punjab is an integral part of the concept and cannot be deleted from the film", he said.
Kashyap said in all his previous run-ins with either the board or the government, he never felt he was being silenced, but this particular case was different.
With opposition parties blaming ruling SAD-BJP of using influence to "censor" 'Udta Punjab', Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said the government has "nothing to do" with the movie, saying it is a matter between producers and the Censor Board.
Badal's rival and Punjab Congress Chief Amarinder Singh said he has written to producers of 'Udta Punjab', requesting them to provide him uncensored CDs of the film to release it in Amritsar on June 17.
(REOPENS DEL39)
At the AICC briefing, party spokesman Raj Babbar took a dig at Censor Board chairman Pahlaj Nihalni for his comments that he was "chamcha" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"It seems that the Modi government is a government of sycophants," Babbar said.
He said party vice president Rahul Gandhi had raised the drug issue in Punjab two years before the row over release of 'Udta Punjab'.