The censor board doesn’t have a problem with Shakespeare, they just both happen to be in the news at the same time.  Although I bet the censor board would have a problem with Shakespeare, if they were working in England in the 1500s!  All that sexual humor, barely veiled political content, and bad language would NOT fly!

The censor board does have a problem with Udta Punjab.  Because, either, it has too much abusive language.  Or, possibly, because it presents the Punjab political and social scene in a way that cuts a little close to home.  I was thinking casting Diljit Dosanjh would get around any suggestion that it is disrespecting the Punjab, but I guess that just works for the audience, not the politicians.  For one or all of these reasons, it has issued a complete ban.  Not a request for cuts, a refusal entire.  The filmmakers are still hoping to make their release date in 3 weeks and have issued an appeal, but even the fact that a ban was put out is pretty amazing.  And the fact that they have passed all sorts of hyper-sexual films recently, like Kya Super Kool Hain Hum, makes it all the more obvious that this had nothing to do with content, and everything to do with politics.

The censor board does not (so far) have a problem with Shakespeare.  But I have a problem with Shakespeare!  Because he has seduced Shekhar Kapoor away from Indian film again, abandoning Paani pre-production to make a serial for America’s TNT channel on Shakespeare’s early life.  It’s not that I care about Paani so much, but there was that faint hope that after he finally finished it, he would move on to FINALLY giving us Mr. India 2!

Oh, and also, that conversation about Shakespeare between Aamir and Ian McKellen happened, and it sounds nice.  Turned into a bit of a Section 377 discussion, but Ian is a big proponent of gay rights, so that was kind of predictable.