The Bombay high court today (September 4) chided the Central Board of Film Certification for not granting a certificate to Zee Studios and Kangana Ranaut’s Emergency. It said that it was the job of the CBFC to certify films rather than to think of the consequences if a film is released.
Zee Studios approached the high court for the illegal withholding by the CBFC of the certificate of Emergency. It told the court that the producers had received an intimation by email that the certification of the film was successful. However, after that, the certificate was not granted, making it impossible for the producers to release the film. On its part, the CBFC told the court that what the producers had received by email was a mere auto-generated email. But the court did not buy the theory of the CBFC. Instead, the high court told the CBFC that it was not in its jurisdiction to withhold a certificate for fear that the public could object to the film’s release, that being in the domain of the law enforcement agencies.
Since a case against the film’s release is pending in the Madhya Pradesh high court, wherein the CBFC has been asked to look into the matter (objections raised against the film by the petitioners), the Bombay high court did not give directions to the CBFC to certify the film. The matter in the M.P. high court is likely to be decided on September 19. It is only after that that the Bombay high court will pass orders in the matter of certification of the film.
Meanwhile, the release of the film on September 6 is postponed. No new date for the release has been finalised as yet, for obvious reasons.