‘There was a movie where an oracle spitting on the face of the idol of a goddess and no problem was there’, the court points out
KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Friday declined to stay the screening of the controversial film ‘The Kerala Story’ in the theatres.
The court recorded the submission of the producer that they will remove the alleged offending teaser of the film from their social media handle.
“The fact remains that none of the petitioners have watched the movie as a whole. A competent statutory authority like CBFC has examined the movie and found it suitable for publication,” said the court.
The court also noted that the producers have published a disclaimer along with the movie which specifically states that the film has been fictionalized and is a dramatized version of events. The film doesn’t claim the accuracy or factuality of historic events.
“In view of the disclaimer also we declined to pass an interim order restraining the filmmakers from exhibiting the film as such,” said a division bench headed by Justice N Nagaresh.
S Manu, the deputy solicitor general of India on behalf of the Central Board of Film Certification, submitted that the teaser of the movie- ‘The Kerala Diary’- released on social media is not certified by the Board.
While examining the movie, it was observed that no straight claim about the statistical data of 32,000 women has been made by the filmmaker.
The narrative of the movie revolves around 3 girls who want to rise in their professional lives but are manipulated to choose the wrong path and thereby forced to work with terrorist groups.”Such incidents have also been reported many times by the agencies,” said CBFC
CBFC added that the movie has been duly certified by the Board and modifications directed to be made after proper analysis of the contents have been complied with.
The trailer or teaser does not contain anything offensive against a particular community as a whole, said the court. Citing the 1973 Malayalam movie ‘Nirmalyam’, the court said “There was a movie where an oracle spitting on the face of the idol of a goddess and no problem was there. Can you imagine? It is a famous award-winning movie.”
“There are no incorrect and derogatory remarks against a religion. There are umpteen films showing Hindu priests as smugglers, rapists, etc, nothing happened in the country?” said the court.
“What is there against Muslims? This is a fictional story. Merely because some religious heads are shown in a bad light, that is not a reason to ban the movie,” added the court.
The court also viewed the teaser and trailer of the movie in open court before passing the interim order.
