Censor Board Pee'ved: Musicians say lot more happens on stage than peeing

After courting much controversy, Udta Punjab has been let off the hook by the Bombay High Court with just one cut. It’s the scene that shows Shahid Kapoor’s character, rockstar Tommy Singh, urinating on stage.

The scene that seems to be too much to handle for the HC and the CBFC, is, as gig regulars would tell you, a rockstar antic more common than you think.

From the legendary Jim Morrison exposing himself on stage (1969) to the maverick Ozzy Osbourne biting the head off a live bat during a gig (1982), stage escapades of artistes can get way more crazy than simply peeing on stage.

A band notorious for their theatrics is Black Lips from the US, whose shows feature nudity and urination. When the band toured India in 2009, they courted trouble when guitarist Cole Alexander stripped down and jumped into the crowd, and got back on stage to make out with the other band members.

Our desi boys have their fair share of fun with condoms and even underwear being thrown at them on stage. Girish ‘Bobby’ Talwar of Zero recounts an instance where people hurled bras and panties on stage. Says Bobby with a laugh. “I hung it on my bass and played the rest of the set that way.”

Another crowd favourite is to crowd-surf, informs Nitin Malik of Parikrama. “Many years ago, during Independence Rock, Subir (Malik, the keyboard player) decided to pull an Eddie Vedder and jumped into the crowd. The audience happily obliged but the security guards held him back in a bear hug so he would not go on stage and ‘disturb the band’,” Nitin laughs as he recounts the incident.

“It’s not a conscious decision taken by musicians. It’s the craziness of the moment that makes you do things on stage that you normally wouldn’t do,” he adds.