Adipurush Row: Supreme Court dismisses PIL seeking ban on movie, says ‘everyone getting touchy about everything now’

The Supreme Court of India has dismissed the PIL seeking a ban on the ‘Adipurush’ movie for hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus. The court’s Division Bench, comprising Justice SK Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia, said that it would be inappropriate for the court to interfere with film certifications based on the “sensitivities of each individual.”

The PIL contended that the movie depicts various deities in an objectionable manner, destroying their “fundamental values and characters” and modifying the basic structure of the Valmiki Ramayana. The petitioner had argued that the movie’s dialogues were objectionable, contending that only ‘gully boys’ use such ‘derogatory language.’

However, the court dismissed the PIL and expressed displeasure about an increasing trend of people bringing minor issues to the Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India. The court remarked that people must have a certain level of tolerance towards creative representations.

“Why should we entertain this under 32? The cinematography act provides for the method to get certificate. Everybody now is touchy about everything. Every time they will come before the Supreme Court for it. Is everything to be scrutinised by us? The level of tolerance for films, books, paintings keeps on getting down. Now people are hurt maybe sometimes genuinely, maybe sometimes not. But we will not under Article 32 start entertaining them,” Justice SK Kaul orally remarked.

The petitioner argued that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) did not adhere to the guidelines while granting the certification. However, the court continued to be reluctant to entertain the PIL. The court, while dismissing the PIL, said that the cinematographic representation may not be an exact replica of the religious texts.

“We may say this at the inception itself that cinematographic representations may not be the exact replica of text. There has to be a certain play. However, so that the play does not go beyond a certain limit, a body has been constituted to look into these aspects. In the present case, the certificate was issued by that body and there has been certain modifications made after that too,” the court said.

The court said that it would be inappropriate for the court to address individual sensitivities under Article 32, stating that the court should not entertain such issues after the CBFC has granted a certificate.

“It is not appropriate that for each persons’ sensitivities, this court should interfere, especially in exercise of Article 32 of the Constitution of India. We are not inclined to exercise our jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Constitution of India nor these matters should be generally entertained by courts as the certificate of the censor board is granted. The court should not become some kind of an appellate authority for the censor board,” the court said.

Background

A PIL was moved before the Supreme Court seeking a ban on the movie ‘Adipurush’ for hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus. The PIL sought the revocation of the censor certificate granted to the movie by the CBFC, claiming that it violates the statutory provisions u/s 5B of the Cinematograph Act, 1952.

“The sacred fundamental texts and manuscripts are the basic spiritual and physical tenets of a cultured and civilized 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 argued, before outlining her specific contentions.

“The inspiration was taken from Valmiki Ramayana which was believed to have happened in Treta Yug in which the Rakshasas and Devas lived together on Earth and fought each other but still maintained the decorum of war and rivalry. Using derogatory words can never be an inspiration to anyone and such a distortion of such a great personality and deity like Lord Hanuman is blasphemy and this must be stopped,” the petitioner argued.

The petitioner contended that ‘Adipurush’ is a mockery of Valmiki Ramayana and is fuelled by interests in personal commercial gain. The petitioner submitted that the movie has modified the core values of the deities.

“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,” the petitioner said.

The petitioner concluded, “The Indian Constitution gives us the fundamental right to freely profess and practice our religion and belief with full devotion. But feature film ‘Adipurush’ has created a dent on the values, principles and personality of our sacred deities and Gods by distorting every aspect of [their] fundamental values and principles and hence this feature film ‘Adipurush’ has hurt our sentiments.”