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The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday urged filmmakers to stay away from religious texts and not make movies about them as it heard petitions seeking a ban on the film Adipurush.
The court directed the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to submit personal affidavits in response to pleas seeking the ban.
“Aap logo ko Quran, Bible ko bhi nahin touch karna chahiye. Main yeh clear kar dun ki kisi ek dharm ko mat touch kariey. Aap log kisi bhi dharm ke baare me galat tarah se mat dikhaye. Court ka koi religion nahin hai (You must not touch the Quran or the Bible. Let me clarify that you must not touch any religion. Please don’t show religions in the wrong light. The court has no religion),” a bench of Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan and Shree Prakash Singh said.
“Filmmakers only want to mint money,” Justice Chauhan orally remarked before suggesting that even a short documentary on the Quran depicting the wrongs would cause a massive stir.
“If you make even a short documentary on the Quran depicting wrong things, you will see what can happen,” the court orally remarked.
The High Court said that something or the other is being done continuously to disturb social harmony. “The producer will have to appear in court. This is not a joke,” it said.
“Several characters of the Ramayana are worshipped and how have they been portrayed in the film…” the court said. “The film was released on June 16 and so far nothing has been done. What will happen in three days?” it asked.
One of the judges said many have told him that they were hurt by the film. “There are some who could not watch the full film. Those who believe in Lord Ram, Lakshman, Sita and Hanuman ji will not be able to watch the film,” the High Court said.
The court also reprimanded members of the CBFC, saying some “great people” certified a film where Ramayana has been shown like this.
“People’s sentiments have been hurt. We believe what has been said in the petition – sentiments have been hurt,” the court said, adding, “If we keep quiet today, we know what will happen.”
“One film showed Lord Shiva running around with a Trishul (trident). He is being made fun of. Will this happen from now on?” one of the judges asked.
Recently, an amendment application was filed to include the film’s dialogue writer, Manoj Muntashir Shukla, as a party in the case. The court allowed the application and issued a notice to Shukla.
The amendment application objected to the dialogues written by Shukla, terming them to be ridiculous, ‘filthy’, and ‘against the glory of Ramayan yug’.
