In all, the head of the censor board, Pahlaj Nihalani, demanded 94 cuts to the film before it could be released to theaters as scheduled on June 17, the film’s producer, Anurag Kashyap, said on Twitter.

Mr. Kashyap has challenged the board’s order before the Bombay High Court, while also seeking financial relief for the delay in certification, which seems very likely to postpone the film’s opening until at least July. The court, after a hearing on Thursday, adjourned the case until Friday.

Movies regularly come under the Indian censor board’s knife, sometimes for baffling reasons. Last year, the agency cut in half the length of a kiss in the latest James Bond film, “Spectre.” Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine” went unreleased when Mr. Allen refused to comply with the board’s demand that a smoking disclaimer appear on screen every time someone lit a cigarette.

In the case of “Flying Punjab,” the board’s critics say politics seemed to play a role.

Punjab is governed by the regional political party Akali Dal, which has long been accused by its opponents of turning a blind eye to the state’s pervasive drug mafia and, presumably, is not eager to have viewers — and voters — reminded of the issue of heroin use in the state. Akali Dal is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party and of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who appointed Mr. Nihalani.