No movie can be allowed to be released for public view if there are materials to prove that it has the potential to create communal problems and no filmmaker is entitled to degrade a particular caste group or religion in his movies, the Madras High Court Bench here said on Wednesday.
A Division Bench of Justices S. Tamilvanan and V.S. Ravi made the observation while passing interim orders on a public interest litigation petition filed by Puthiya Tamilagam president K. Krishnasamy against Karthi starrer Komban, which he claimed to have the potential of inciting caste clashes in southern districts.
The judges refused to pass an interim injunction restraining the producer, K.E. Gnanavel Raja of Studio Green, from releasing the movie but made it clear that either the petitioner or any other person could file an appropriate petition, after the release, if they find that it contained “anything against communal harmony.”
“Any person producing a feature film so as to create communal tension should be dealt with properly, according to law, since it may affect even the peaceful living of innocent people,” the Bench added.
Giving reasons for not passing an order of injunction, the judges said that it would not be appropriate on the part of the court to pre-empt the release of a movie solely on the basis of apprehensions raised by a PIL petitioner who had neither watched the movie nor had first hand information about the script.
The judges pointed out that they had constituted a 10-member committee comprising two retired High Court judges K. Ravirajapandian and C. Arumugaperumal Adityan apart from the petitioner and the producer to watch a private screening of the movie at a preview theatre in Chennai on Tuesday.
However, the screening got disrupted within minutes after it began due to certain untoward incidents which the Division Bench preferred to ignore. Therefore, at this stage, “we are of the considered view not to pass any interim order without knowing the reality of the film,” the judges added.
Court refuses to pass interim injunction on Komban’s release
