Udta Punjab vs Censor Board: Here's who Bollywood's backing

The controversy surrounding the Shahid Kapoor-Alia Bhatt starrer, Udta Punjab seems to have created immense furor among the Bollywood fraternity.

The upcoming flick revolves around the youth of Punjab and the impact substance abuse has on them.

Celebs are voicing concern against the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) and it's decision to censor the word Punjab in the upcoming film and its proposal of reportedly 94 cuts from the movie for its excessive use of profanities.

"Anything that attacks the freedom of expression is annoying. We're all together and will speak up,” said Highway director Imtiaz Ali.

PK leading man, Aamir Khan also chimed in and conveyed his disapproval: “This kind of thing reflects badly on the CBFC. It's a social film with a good social message. I don't think there's anything that should be cut or not shown to the audience. It's very important that filmmakers have a voice which is not throttled.”

Filmmaker Karan Johar wrote, "Are we supposed to say that drugs aren't being consumed in parts of the country? No, no, everyone's just high on mithai. Is baby powder what's being sniffed by available and interested nostrils? Rarely do mainstream stars step out of their comfort zones to do films that reflect reality, now you're scaring away those that do."

Amitabh Bachchan, on the other hand, took a more nuanced approach.

“I'm not quite aware of what the issue is, I've been reading about it. All I can say is that don't try and kill creativity. If you kill creativity, you kill the soul and that is all that we (artists) have; that would be detrimental.”

Other B-Town stars, like Alia Bhatt, Arjun Kapoor and Farhan Akhtar, took to Twitter to speak up:

Alia Bhatt chose to use Malala Yousafzai’s quote to drive home her point.

Her father, Mahesh Bhatt, is of the same view:

Farhan Akhtar’s fury should give the CBFC a reality check.

Film critic Anupama Chopra backed her point of view with hard-hitting numbers.

Arjun Kapoor asks his fellow B-Town celebs to speak up against the issue.

Actress Soha Ali Khan is not too happy with the decision either.

The movie was slated to release on June 17 but we reckon it might be postponed if this doesn't get sorted out soon!