Anurag Kashyap makes a confused plea about leaked ‘Udta Punjab’

Director-producer Anurag Kashyap seems to be in a strange state of mind. While the celebrations of winning the battle against CBFC had not even died down at Phantom, it seems that the CBFC allegedly tried to get back by leaking the controversial film, Shahid Kapoor-Alia Bhatt-starrer ‘Udta Punjab’ on the internet. Obviously nobody can prove if it was the CBFC who actually leaked it, but the version that is all over the internet says that it was meant for the censors. It is not very difficult to put two plus two together, given the fact that CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani didn’t seem very happy about the High Court stepping into his shoes, and dismissing their decision as if it was childish. Soon after the news of ‘Udta Punjab’ became national news, fans of Kashyap have taken on the job to request everybody to not watch the leaked version. The strangest, and perhaps a very confusing plea came from Kashyap himself.

He posted on his FB wall, “I have never downloaded a film on torrent, i don’t know how to. yes occasionally i have seen downloaded films borrowed from friends and found a way to pay for them later, by buying them on DVD or blurray, and when i say this i also say that no one can stop your right to download a film. This time its a different fight, its a fight against censorship and if you are that audience that always downloads a film, then i won’t ask you to not do that , please do, but wait till saturday which is the day you would normally download a film.” He further added, “Piracy happens because of lack of access and in a world of free internet, i do not have a problem with it. My problem is that this time its a case of vested interests trying to demoralise people from fighting for their rights. So all downloaders of Udta Punjab , i urge, wait till saturday till you decide to not pay for the film, don’t download and share , curb the curiosity for two more days. Thank you for reading this.” [sic]

The fact is that if not for piracy, Kashyap would have had no identity as a filmmaker – most of his films are watched illegally online. Him requesting people to wait till Saturday to watch the film that they have already downloaded is really strange. What is even stranger is that he states that he doesn’t have a problem with people watching downloaded films. How will it help the makers of ‘Udta Punjab’ if those who have downloaded the film will wait till Saturday? Does he think that the rave reviews for the film will change their minds? Well, this has left us slightly confused, but for the love of the cinema, we will watch ‘Udta Punjab’ at the theatres – what about you? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

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