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Synopsis

The makers of Adipurush, a mythological action film based on the Hindu epic Ramayana, have approached the Supreme Court seeking relief against the Allahabad High Court's recent order whereby they have been directed to appear in person along with their personal affidavits explaining their bonafide in the PILs filed seeking removal of objectionable dialogues and scenes from the film.

On June 28, the High Court had ordered the director of the film 'Adipurush' Om Raut, its dialogues writer Manoj Muntashir @ Manoj Shukla along with Bhushan Kumar to appear in person.

When the matter was mentioned before CJI DY Chandrachud today, seeking urgent listing, the CJI asked the lawyer to mention the matter again tomorrow.

Notably, the case in which the impugned order was issued has been posted for further hearing on July 27, 2023.

Before the next date of hearing in the matter, high court has sought a personal affidavit of the Chairman, Board of Film Certification containing all the details and the documents to convince the court that the guidelines had been followed in its letter and spirit.

Two PILs were filed before the high court alleging that film 'Adipurush' depicts religious gods and other icons and characters in a disgusting and vulgar manner hurting the sentiments of the public at large who worship those religious gods / Icons.

However, before passing any interim order or any coercive order against the opposite parties including the filmmaker or producer or dialogues writer of film Adipurush, the division bench of Justices Shree Prakash Singh and Rajesh Singh Chauhan had decided to give one more opportunity to Union of India (UOI) through its Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to revisit on the issue/ grievance of the public.

For this purpose, court ordered the UOI to constitute a committee of experts not less than 5 in number within one week.

Court also directed that among the members of the expert committee, two shall be the persons who are well versed with the Valmiki Ramayana and other religious texts written over Lord Ram's life so that it could be seen as to whether the depiction of the story of Lord Ram and others in the film has been done in conformity with the Valmiki Ramayana, etc. as has been claimed by the makers of Adipurush. 

"It would also be seen as to whether the picturization of Devi Sita and wife of Vibhishana are in conformity with the guidelines which clearly mandates that the Censor Board shall ensure that scenes degrading or denigrating women character in any manner are not presented," noted the court in its order dated June 28, 2023. 

It is to be noted that a plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to revoke the certificate granted by Central Board of Film Certification to “Adipurush” for hurting the sentiments of Hindu community and devotees of Lords Ram and Hanuman and other deities by distorting and destroying the fundamental values and characters of the deities.