The Allahabad high court today (June 27) pulled up the makers of the controversial Adipurush over its dialogues which have hurt the religious sentiments of a large section of the audience. The court directed dialogue writer Manoj Muntashir Shukla to be made a party in the case, and issued him a notice directing him to respond within a week. The court was hearing a petition demanding a ban on the film which is based on the epic Ramayan.
“The nature of dialogues in the film is a big issue. Ramayan is a paragon for us. People read Ramcharitmanas before leaving home,” said the court, adding that films shouldn’t touch certain things. It added that one can’t take advantage of the fact that people of Hindu religion are very tolerant.
Today was the second day of hearing of the case. The court questioned whether the Central Board of Film Certification had fulfilled its responsibility while certifying the film. “It’s good that people did not harm the law and order situation after watching the film. Lord Hanuman and Sita have been shown like they are nothing. These things should have been removed from the very beginning. Some scenes seem to be of ‘A’ (adult) category. It’s very difficult to watch such films,” the court observed. Terming it a “very serious matter”, it questioned what the CBFC did about it.
When the court was informed that the objectionable dialogues had been removed from the film, the court remarked, “That alone won’t work. What will you do with the scenes? Seek instructions, then we will definitely do whatever we want to do… In case the exhibition of the film is stopped, the people, whose feelings have been hurt, will get relief.”
With regard to the argument of the respondents that a disclaimer had been added in the film, the bench said, “Do the people, who put the disclaimer, consider the countrymen and youth to be brainless? You show Lord Ram, Lord Laxman, Lord Hanuman, Ravan, Lanka and then say, it is not Ramayan?” The court concluded, “We saw it on the news that people went to the theatres and got the film shut down. Be thankful, nobody vandalised it.”
The hearing will continue tomorrow (June 28).