SC declines PIL seeking to revoke certificate of film ‘Adipurush’
Jul 21, 2023
New Delhi [India], July 21 : The Supreme Court on Friday declined a PIL seeking to revoke the CBFC certificate of the film ‘Adipurush’ for public exhibition for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said that these are not matters for this court to hear and sit in appeal of certification.
Justice Kaul remarked, “Why should we interfere under Article 32? Everybody is now touchy on everything. Should we scrutinise everything? Tolerance for films, books these days is going down."
Dismissing the plea, the bench said, the apex court should not become some kind of appellant authority for such matters.
“We may hold here that cinematographic depictions play with the original material, to what extent it is permissible a body is there. It is not possible for this court to interfere for each person's sensibilities under Article 32. These are not matters for this court to hear and sit in appeal of certification. If anyone is aggrieved by the decision of appellate authority they can pursue remedies under law,” it added.
The top court was hearing a PIL filed by lawyer Mamta Rani seeking direction to revoke the certificate of the film ‘Adipurush’. The plea said that exhibition of Om Raut’s ‘Adipurush’ hurt the sentiments of Hindus and devotees of various deities depicted in the movie by “destroying their fundamental values and characters” and modifying the basic structure of Valmiki Ramayana.
The plea filed through advocates Shailendra Mani Tripathi, Ratnesh Kumar Shukla and Akash Awana sought direction “to protect and preserve all the religious manuscripts and texts in their original form at all platforms and prohibit distortion of the above-said texts/manuscripts by anyone.”
The plea also strongly objected to some dialogues in the movie, saying that only ‘gully boys’ use such ‘derogatory’ language.
“The sacred fundamental texts and manuscripts are the basic spiritual and physical tenets of a cultured and civilised society which a common man of such a society relies (on) and lives (by). A man becomes an orphan like a fallen leave from the branch of a tree without his culture and traditions,” the petitioner has stated.
It added, “Besides this, the depiction of the physical features and communication styles of Hindu gods – Rama and Hanuman – are complete distortions of not only the characters but also the very fundamental values for which they are worshipped”.
The petitioner expressed the apprehension that such a depiction would influence the general public into believing in “different value and morals”.
It further alleged that the depiction of Sita is “inappropriate and vulgar”.
The petitioner has contended that ‘Adipurush’ is a mockery of Valmiki Ramayana, which has been fuelled by personal commercial gain.
“The whole story of the film has destroyed and modified every aspect of the core values of the characters, their language and each authentic event,” it stated. The movie, which draws inspiration from the revered Hindu epic Ramayana, faced heavy criticism post-release. The film stars Prabhas as Lord Ram, Kriti as Goddess Sita, Sunny Singh as Laxman, and Saif Ali Khan as Ravana, the mythical hydra-headed demon king in the epic.
