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THE UNION Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Tuesday told the Allahabad High Court that the Central Board of Films Certification (CBFC) “may not revisit on the certificate already issued” to the film Adipurush and that the film carries a disclaimer before it starts that “it is not the Ramayana”.
The film, released on June 16, has sparked controversy due to certain dialogues not going down well with a section of the audience. Protests against the film have also erupted in parts of the country.
The submission was made by Deputy Solicitor General of India S B Pandey, who was representing the Centre and the Censor Board in the Allahabad High Court while it heard a plea seeking a ban on the film as it “would create serious disharmony in the society”.
S B Pandey also referred to Section 6 of the Cinematograph Act, 1952, which says that in “such circumstances, the revisional power vests with the Central Government”. He told the court that the “Board of Films certification may not revisit on the certificate already issued to the film”. He further submitted that “he has been told that before the starting of the film, the disclaimer has been shown to the effect that the film is not the Ramayana”.
It was then pointed out to Pandey that when the filmmaker has portrayed Lord Rama and others from the Ramayana, how can the disclaimer of the film convince the people at large that the story is not from the Ramayana. Pandey submitted that he would have to seek instructions on this point.
Arguing on behalf of the petitioners seeking a ban on the film in a petition filed in October last year, Advocate Rajana Agnihotri “requested that the aforesaid movie may immediately be banned”. “…as it may not only affect adversely the sentiments of the people at large, who worship Lord Rama, Devi Sita, Lord Hanuman etc., but the manner in which the characters of Ramayana has been depicted would create serious disharmony in the society also,” she argued. Agnihotri stated that “she failed to understand from where the content of the film has been borrowed as nothing in that manner has been narrated in Valmiki Ramayana or Tulsikrit Ramcharit Manas”. The petition was filed by two residents of Lucknow – Kuldeep Tiwari and Bandana Kumar – after a teaser clip of the film was released in October.
A Bench of Justices Rajesh Singh Chauhan and Prakash Singh granted Pandey 24 hours to seek instruction from the Central ministry and the Censor Board and to apprise it “as to whether opposite party no.1 (Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting) is considering to take appropriate steps in the interest of public at large by invoking its revisional power under Section 6 of the Act, 1952”.
The court also allowed an application filed by the petitioners to make the dialogue writer of the film Manoj Muntashir an opposing party in the case.
The court has listed the matter for hearing on Wednesday at 2:30 pm.
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