‘Nothing objectionable’: Bombay HC clears release of film on CM Yogi Adityanath

Makers of the film, “Ajey: The Untold Story of a Yogi”, had approached the high court after the CBFC refused to certify the film.

The film is inspired by Shantanu Gupta’s book The Monk Who Became Chief Minister: The Definitive Biography of Yogi Adityanath (2017), which has been officially endorsed by the UP Chief Minister’s Office.

During the previous hearing on August 21, the judges had said that they would watch the film before passing an order, as the CBFC had initially raised 29 objections, and subsequently dropped eight, before refusing certification for release.

The petitioners, Samrat Cinematics India Pvt Ltd, the producer of the film, through advocates Ravi Kadam, Satatya Anand and Nikhil Aradhe, had said that the changes suggested by the CBFC were not acceptable and that its revising committee’s decision violated the makers’ fundamental rights.

The CBFC, through senior advocate Ram Apte, had said that the film violated clauses requiring that the medium should remain responsible and sensitive to the values and standards of society.

It was submitted that the film could be defamatory towards UP CM Adityanath. The court said that it had seen the scenes which the CBFC had flagged but did not find anything objectionable.

The petitioners had first approached the CBFC on June 5 for a certificate and despite rules stating that the application should be scrutinised in seven days and referred to the examining committee within 15 days, no response was received for more than a month.

The petitioners then filed a petition in the high court and the CBFC had assured the high court on July 17 that a decision will be taken within two working days.

On July 21, however, the CBFC informed the makers that the application for certification was rejected, following which they approached the court again.

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