It’s official. Come June 17, Udta Punjab will hit the theatres. Stating that the movie does not question the “sovereignty or integrity” of India, the Bombay High Court today directed the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to issue an ‘A’ certificate to the movie in 48 hours. Here’s where the judgment gets, well, judgmental. Clearly, an ‘A’ certificate is not enough – even for adults, some abusive words need to be deleted.

Keyword: “some”.

So is the presence of 10 cuss words in a film ‘morally’ better than, say, 50? What’s the rationale behind this rationing of abuses?

Striking down CBFC’s demand for a stay on the movie, the Court observed that CBFC does not have the power to censor movies and asked it to act as per the Constitution and Supreme Court’s directions.

So far, so good.

Two close-ups would have perhaps been too much, but we’ll let that slide.

Feel free to scratch “side portion by Sardar”, whatever that means.

In the contentious scene, Tommy Singh, the character played by Shahid Kapoor, urinates in front of a crowd.  Because no one in India pees in the open. Such swachh, much amaze.

For the Udta Punjab team, just one cut is a victory over CBFC and Nihalani. The offending shot is one in which Shahid Kapoor is seen peeing into the crowd in a concert as Tommy Singh.

Although, the court order is being hailed as a landmark judgment, we at Newslaundry think otherwise — even the urinating scene should not be censored because when it comes to freedom of speech and expression, we are absolutists. And also because Bollywood has had ample of films with protagonists and sidey-type characters relieving themselves in public and private (much like in reality).

So, why discriminate against Udta Punjab? And so what if the aim is at real people and not just a wall or a sarson ka khet?

1) Besharam:

2) 3 Idiots:

5) Gunday:

6) Masti (for gender representation purpose): Rakhi Sawant taking a leak standing.

One would think that for a filmmaker, democracy is vindicated when language – and whether or not a character needs to take a leak – remains their prerogative. But when so much money is at stake, you take what you get. Little wonder that the judgement, changes and all, led to the nivasis of Bollywood – including people associated with Udta Punjab – heaving a collective sigh of relief.

Before long, this whole episode will be forgotten. Thanks to all this publicity, the producers will possibly laugh their way to the bank. Mr Nihalani, despite Times Now’s best efforts, will probably continue to head CBFC.

But what should be remembered is that this judgement is no friend of FoE (freedom of expression), not by a long shot.