WEB DESK: Udta Punjab has been released in Pakistan with 100 cuts imposed by the country’s censor board. Though the Bollywood fans in Pakistan have refused the censored version of the film and are going for the pirated version of it.

Udta Punjab has opened in Pakistani theaters but Bollywood fans in the country were disappointed with the 100 cuts imposed by the country’s censor board.

Director of Udta PUnjab, Abhishek Chaubey claimed that the makers had decided against the film’s release in Pakistan as they were unhappy with the cuts. “As per my last conversation we had decided to not release the film in Pakistan because we found the cuts unacceptable but please confirm it with the producers,” Chaubey said.

Earlier this week, the Pakistani censor board passed the movie, based on the issue of drug abuse in Punjab, with 100 cuts and ‘A’ certificate. The movie hit Pakistani screens on June 24.

Disappointed by the cuts and many muted dialogues, the cine-goers turned to the pirated version of the film.

Reportedly, video shop owners are doing good business selling pirated copies of Udta Punjab in three major localities of Karachi including Clifton, Defence and Civil Lines.

The owner of a leading video shop in the posh Clifton area said that his customers were demanding uncut pirated copies of the film. “Some of them went to watch the film in cinema halls and came back disappointed as they say it has been censored badly,” he said.

“If the purpose of making the film was to convey a point about drug abuse and menace it is now lost after the many cuts in Udta Punjab,” said well known film critic, Omair Alavi.

He noted that the filmmakers of Udta Punjab went to court and fought hard in India to get it passed from Censors without any cuts but noted they can’t do the same in Pakistan.

Mobashir Hasan, chairperson of the Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC), admitted that they were around a 100 cuts in the film. He said that since the film contained foul language, swearing, and derogatory words it has been given an adult rating after the cuts. “We have muted the swearing at and derogatory words and with certain excisions of scenes,” he said. Hasan added references to Pakistan had also been excised.

Udta Punjab, starring Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosanjh, earlier fought a tough censorship battle in India for its release.