A huge political battle has broken out between SAD-BJP alliance government and the opposition after the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) on Monday asked the producers to drop 'Punjab' from the title of the film 'Udta Punjab'. This is the second time that the film has left the board queasy. On May 26 it had objected the excessive use of profanities in the film and sought 89 cuts to give it a 'UA' certificate.

While CBFC member Ashoke Pandit criticised his own colleagues for "embarking on dangerous territory of hemming creative freedom", AAP and Congress slammed the government for being behind the "censorship move". With assembly elections in January 2017 in Punjab and drugs being an extremely sensitive political subject, politicians seem divided on the impact the film can have on poll results. The film's producer Anurag Kashyap told reporters in Mumbai that "if any film is changed slightly, it is Qatl-e-Aam of it. No filmmaker wants to have cuts and leave it at that."

"The Akali Dal knows the movie with big stars like Shahid and Kareena will put drugs on the centre stage of the political debate ahead of polls. So first, they tried to politely use censorship by pressurising the filmmakers to remove abuses from the script and then this... We will take this issue to Parliament and not allow this move," said Partap Bajwa Congress Rajya Sabha MP and former state party chief.