Bombay HC judges to watch film on UP CM Yogi Adityanath before deciding on plea by makers

The petitioner had said that the movie, inspired by the book, “The Monk Who Became Chief Minister”, authored by Shantanu Gupta, was scheduled to be released in theatres on August 1. The makers had also argued that the book, which formed the inspiration for the movie, has been officially endorsed by the UP Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).

The petitioner, through the plea filed last month, alleged that the CBFC had delayed in processing its application for the film, teaser, trailer and promotional in an “unreasonable” manner . They claimed that while they applied for certification of the film on June 5, the CBFC was required to examine their application within seven days and refer it for screening within 15 days, however, no action was taken for nearly a month.

After the HC’s directive of August 1 to CBFC to watch the film and take a decision on certification, the Board on August 6 passed an order, refusing to certify the movie, stating that it violated the Guidelines for Certification of Films for Public Exhibition.

On August 7, a bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Neela K Gokhale directed the petitioner to file application before Revisional Committee of CBFC and asked the Board to inform the objectionable contents or dialogues in the film to petitioner by August 11. The petitioner was asked to communicate whether the makers intended to delete or rework the parts of the film.

The CBFC panel raised 29 objections. However, the makers could not respond to the Board on changes by August 12, after which the CBFC’s revising committee proceeded to watch the film. The panel dropped 8 of the objections but on August 17 refused to certify the film. Thereafter the petitioners amended their plea to challenge the Revising Committee’s rejection.

On Thursday, senior advocate Abhay Khandeparkar for the CBFC informed the HC that it had followed principles of natural justice during the process and the movie makers can still file an appeal before the HC under Cinematograph Act.

However, senior advocate Ravi Kadam for the makers argued that Revising Committee’s decision violated the petitioner’s fundamental rights and the Board had arbitrarily directed the makers to obtain NOC from the private individual (Yogi Adityanath) before the film could be cleared to be released.

The HC remarked that even if the makers had an alternative remedy to file an appeal it will have to ascertain whether present writ plea was maintainable.

The court expressed displeasure over the manner in which the CBFC dealt with the issue and said that it should have followed principles of natural justice in the beginning and it should be done for every film, however, the Board failed to do so.

The judges said they will watch the movie to decide on passing further orders and posted further hearing to August 25.