An unlikely couple has found itself trapped in the increasingly public fallout between the makers of Udta Punjab - Phantom Films and Balaji Motion Pictures - and the Censor Board of Film Certification, headed by Pahlaj Nihalani. Ironically, Nihalani's son, 34-year-old Chirag Nihalani, works as a creative producer at Balaji Motion Pictures Ltd and is associated with the embattled film's promotional materials, including its trailer. His wife, Radhika Nihalani, in the meanwhile, is officially part of the marketing team of the film.
It is all adding up to a rather awkward situation for the duo, as the film industry is now locked in horns with Chirag's father for his allegedly unreasonable demands. Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has likened the Censor Board's shackles to living in the dreaded dictatorship of North Korea on Twitter, accusing Nihalani Senior of being "an extremely egotistical man". Chirag and his wife, however, have to walk the tightrope between familial loyalty and professionalism.
Chirag joined Ekta Kapoor's production house as an assistant in February 2015, after stints in Fox and Turner. The New York Film Academy alumnus, who is presently working on his directorial debut, told Mumbai Mirror that "he was not allowed to comment on the matter", even as a source close to him recalls how he facilitated a seamless Censor Board review of the Udta Punjab trailer barely months ago.
Radhika Nihalani, who met her spouse in New York whilst studying media, got married to Chirag four years ago at a star-studded ceremony in October 2012. Producers and actors who have been associated with Pahlaj Nihalani's hugely successful streak in the 1980s attended the wedding to give the young couple their blessings. This fallout between Nihalani and the film fraternity is a far cry from happier times four years ago. On Tuesday, the couple were besieged with calls from numerous TV channels and media personnel, to which they chose not to respond out of fear of being dragged into a larger controversy.
"When the trailer was sent to Pahlaj Nihalani two months ago, he cleared it without any cuts within one day. Everybody had praised Chirag, who is quite vocal about his disdain for the CBFC. Anurag Kashyap, who is known to never return Pahlaj's phone calls, had taken to social media to share on April 16: "Pleasantly surprised and thankful to the CBFC for seeing the Udta Punjab trailer in the right context and clearing it without a single cut. Big one!"
Yet things took a turn for the worse, when, after 72 hours after a Censor Board revising committee screening of the drugaddled drama, news began to spread that CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani had called Anurag Kashyap, one of the producers of the film, "recommending 89 cuts" and "dropping any reference to Punjab in the film", including the title.
In an unprecedented show of solidarity Karan Johar, Dibaker Banerjee, Mahesh Bhatt, Sudhir Mishra, along with members of the Indian Film and Television Directors Associations (IFTDA), and the film's producers - Phantom Films (Anurag Kashyap, Madhu Mantena, Vikramaditya Motwane, Vikas Bahl) and Balaji Motion Pictures, have called for a press conference today to discuss "freedom of expression". The objective of the press conference is to pressurise the Revising Committee (RC) of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to either grant Udta Punjab an 'A' certificate or to put it in writing that it needs to undergo 89 cuts to be suitable for viewing.
Following this, the producers of the film will approach the FCAT (Film Certification Appellate Tribunal) in Delhi, which has been known to have overruled several of CBFC's recommendations in the past, for another review screening. They are likely to get a date within four-five days and will release the film on July 15 instead of the original release date of June 17.
To add to the nasty fracas,thanks to this delay, Phantom and Balaji have also announced that they will indeed be suing the CBFC for losses amounting to nearly Rs 30 crore. Incidentally, the Revising Committee had six CBFC members to preside over the screening when Udta Punjab was sent to them. Oddly enough, Pahlaj insisted on overseeing the proceedings himself.
"Chirag has repeatedly been requesting his father to share the official letter demanding the cuts with the film's producers, but Pahlaj is deliberately delaying this so that the makers cannot release the film on time. Each day is costing the production house to the tune of Rs 1 crore," says a source. Udta Punjab has reportedly cost Rs 34-35 crore, with an estimated Rs 10-12 crore set aside for marketing.
Sources close to the Nihalanis also point out that Balaji and Phantom are confident that the FCAT, which is seen as a "sensible, logical and progressive body" and which recently cleared Anurag Kashyap's Raman Raghav 2.0 with zero cuts, will give Udta Punjab an all-clear with a maximum of 10 cuts.
"The film is darker than Kashyap's controversial Black Friday and replete with expletives. There is an abusive word in every second line but the producers are confident that the FCAT will pass the film keeping the creative aspects in mind," adds the source.
"Pahlaj Nihalani is aware that the makers are milking this controversy to grab more publicity for the film. He has since switched off his phone and gone underground in his second home in Sion," reveals a source. "However, no amount of controversy can guarantee a sustained run at the box-office," the source signs off. Will this controversy benefit Udta Punjab? No one has the answer.
Perhaps the one person who might have an answer is Radhika Nihalani, who has worked with over 10 brand management firms in the last three-four years, and is at present marketing the film for Balaji, one of the film's anguished producers.
Anupamaa
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