New Delhi: The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has been the target after the controversial film ‘Udta Punjab’ was leaked online on Wednesday, two days ahead of its scheduled release in theatres.
The 2-hour-28 minute-long version of the film which has been leaked online carries the watermark ‘For Censor’ as well as the time stamp. Further, the high resolution print quality of the version leaked fuelled reports of the CBFC’s hand in it.
Reports doing the rounds suggested that the CBFC, which had a tough battle with ‘Udta Punjab’, has deliberately leaked the film.
However, with all guns pointing at CBFC, the board has claimed innocence in the matter.
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"During examining, revising or re-screening, the DVD was brought by the filmmakers and taken back by them. At no point we had sole possession of the same," a top CBFC official was quoted as saying by a leading daily.
When quizzed about the ‘for censor’ watermark in the leaked version, the official stated that, "It could be leaked from a CD which was meant to be shown for censor purpose alone, but got leaked in transit".
The sealed DVDs are kept by CBFC for record purposes but only after the certificate is issued, the source further added.
For the uninitiated, if the film is leaked online before the release, it can cause huge loss to the producers, if it’s a big banner film.
The Abhishek Chaubey directorial -- which has been in news for the makers' run-in with the censor board -- was on Wednesday available on torrent websites for illegal download.
Till Wednesday night the film had been, reportedly, downloaded several times pointing to a possible impact on the movie’s collection at the box-office.
Anurag Kashyap's Phantom Films and Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Motion Pictures have reportedly lodged a complaint in Cyber Crime Cell in Bandra Kurla Complex. Apart from investigating the matter, they also asked the cell to delete all the links of the movie’s online version.
