Adipurush Row| 'Shameful Portrayal Of Religious Icons Has Hurt Emotions Of People': Allahabad HC Seeks Personal Presence Of Film Makers, Dialogue Writer

Observing that the shameful and disgusting portrayal of religious Icons including Lord Rama, Devi Sita and Lord Hanuman in the movie Adipurush has hurt the emotions of the people at large, the Allahabad High Court has sought the personal presence of movie Director (Om Raut), Producer (Bhushan Kumar) and Dialogue Writer (Manoj Muntashir Shukla) to explain their bonafide. The bench of Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan and Justice Shree Prakash Singh has also directed the Central government to constitute a committee to ‘revisit’ the certificate issued to the Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan and Kriti Sanon starrer movie. In its order passed on June 28, the Court has also observed that filmmakers including the dialogue writer of the movie have shown the religious icons without taking care of the holiness and sanctity of those characters. In this regard, the Court further observed that in the name of freedom of speech and expression, no one can be permitted to do anything against decency or morality or against public order etc. “To us, this film, prima facie, does not qualify the test as prescribed under Article 19 of the Constitution of India…Not only the dialogues of the film are so substandard having cheap language but so many scenes of the film depicting Devi Sita are disgraceful to her very character and some scenes depicting the wife of Vibhishana are prima-facie obscene also which are absolutely unwarranted and uncalled for. Even the depiction of Ravan, his Lanka etc. is so ridiculous and cheap,” the Court observed. “…while making such film, the film makers and the dialogue writer have not taken care of feelings and emotions of public at large depicting the characters and dialogues in shameful and vulgar manner knowingly well that those Icons/ Lords e.g. Lord Rama, Devi Sita and Lord Hanuman are worshiped by the large number of persons of the society,” the Court further added as it stressed that the Censor Board failed to discharge its legal duty while issuing a certificate to release the film without following the guidelines issued under Section 5-B of the Cinematograph Act, 1952. Essentially, the Court made these observations while dealing with two PIL pleas seeking a direction to the Competent opposite parties to remove the objectionable dialogues and scenes from the Film ‘Adipurush’. The PIL pleas before the Court submit that the Movie is depicting religious Gods and other icons and characters in a disgusting and vulgar manner, thereby hurting the sentiments of the public at large who worship those religious Gods / Icons. Taking note of the averments in the pleas, the Court, in its order, observed that this was not a single film of this type and that as per the contentions of counsels for the petitioners, many other films have been produced earlier showing the Hindu Gods /Goddess/Icons in a shameful and disguising manner. “If such type of illegal and immoral acts of the film makers are not checked at the earliest some more film may likely to be produced touching sensitive aspects of other religions besides Hindu religion,” the Court observed as it stressed the need of some stringent and deterrent action by the Competent Authority of the Central Government in the interest of the public at large of the country. In relation to the remark mentioned above, the Court also came down heavily upon the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India for not taking any suitable action immediately after the release of the film despite it having a proper mechanism in place to take appropriate steps to suspend or to revoke the certificate or to stop the exhibition of the film after noticing the huge unrest of public at large. However, instead of issuing any interim order or any coercive order against the opposite parties including the filmmaker or producer or dialogues writer, the Court found it appropriate to give one opportunity to the Competent Authority to revisit the issue/grievance of the public invoking its power under Section 6 of the Act, 1952. For context, Section 6 of the 1952 Act which provides revisional power to the Central Government which may call for records etc. relating to the grievance, if any and after being satisfied regarding said grievance may pass appropriate order. “…if it is found that the grievance of the public at large as narrated in the PILs is genuine and the Censor Board has not followed the specific guidelines while issuing a certificate to the film, appropriate order may be passed under Section 5-E of the Act, 1952.” Section 5-E of the 1952 Act authorises the Central Government to suspend a certificate granted to the film in question for a particular period as it thinks fit or may revoke such certificate if the film is being exhibited in contradiction of the provisions of the Act and the Rules thereof. Significantly, the Court has also directed the UOI to constitute a...

Adipurush Row| 'Shameful Portrayal Of Religious Icons Has Hurt Emotions Of People': Allahabad HC Seeks Personal Presence Of Film Makers, Dialogue Writer

Sparsh Upadhyay

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