The Kerala High Court on Friday directed the Central Board of Film Certification to issue a fresh certification to the Malayalam film Haal after the filmmakers make modifications to several scenes, including one that involves eating beef biryani, The Indian Express reported.
Haal, depicting an interfaith love story between a Muslim boy and a Christian girl, was originally scheduled to release on September 12.
However, the release was postponed after the certification board in October told the producer, JVJ Productions, that the film was not suitable for unrestricted public exhibition.
The board said that the film could be certified “A” (adults only) after making six prescribed deletions and modifications.
The makers of the film subsequently moved the court against the directions.
On Friday, Justice VG Arun, who watched the film, said that the Central Board of Film Certification order on the six cuts and an “A” certificate could not be permitted “by overlooking the foundational principles of secularism and fraternity which are the bedrock of our great democracy”, The News Minute reported.
The “standard to be applied by the board or the courts for judging the film should be that of an ordinary man of commonsense and prudence and not that of an out of the ordinary or hypersensitive man”, The Indian Express quoted the bench as saying.
It added: “In the case at hand, it is clear that, instead of judging the film as would be done by an ordinary, prudent person, the board’s focus was on whether the film will ruffle a few oversensitive feathers.”
While the matter was pending before the court, the makers of the film told the judge that they had made two of the cuts prescribed by the certification board on their own. One pertained to the scene involving beef biryani, while the other depicted court proceedings.
Additionally, lines referencing “dhwaj pranamam”, a salutation associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, “Ganapati Vattam”, the name the Bharatiya Janata Party had proposed for Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad, and “abhyantara shatrukkal”, meaning internal enemies, were also deleted by the makers.
The certification board had objected to these lines.
The RSS is the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre.
The judge, while referring to the decision of the makers to make these modifications, said that it was not venturing to decide on the correctness of the last two excisions in the Central Board of Film Certification order as the petitioners had decided to delete those scenes on their own, the newspaper reported.
“It is beyond comprehension as to how the above theme can be termed as misrepresentation of inter-faith relationships, or portrayal of legitimate warnings from Hindu and Christian leaders, as unfounded and intolerant,” The Indian Express quoted the bench as saying.
The court directed the makers to resubmit the film after the changes, while also telling the certification board to issue a certificate within two weeks.
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