''Udta Punjab'' leaked online, deleted

Mumbai, June 15

Controversial film "Udta Punjab" was leaked online on Wednesday, two days ahead of its scheduled release in theatres. However, the film's team managed to have it deleted from torrent sites.

On Wednesday afternoon, it emerged that the Abhishek Chaubey directorial — which has been in news for the makers' run-in with the censor board — was available on torrent sites for illegal download. However, soon the download links were "removed due to a copyright complaint", the websites read.

According to several online platforms that had snapshots of the leaked copy, one could say it was a copy of the film submitted to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) as it also featured some scenes that the board had objected to.

There were also reports that the leaked copy had a run-time of two hours 20 minutes.

When contacted, a representative of the movie's makers, refused to comment.

‘Udta Punjab’ has been making news after the CBFC suggested 89 cuts in the movie. Later, it went to the Revising Committe, which brought it down to 13 cuts.

The Bombay High Court on Monday gave the movie a green signal for release with just one cut and modified disclaimers.

The movie — which was granted an 'A' certificate for adult viewing only on Wednesday — stars Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Diljit Dosanjh and deals with Punjab’s drug-problem. —IANS