In banning the screening of Kamal Haasan’s Vishwaroopam for a period of two weeks, the Tamil Nadu government has recused itself from a fundamental responsibility — that of protecting the right to free expression. It has relied on the old chestnut — maintenance of law and order and public tranquillity — to justify the indefensible. That a clutch of fringe Muslim organisations had protested against the film, claiming to be offended by its alleged depiction of the community in a negative light, hardly justifies restraining its screening. If a threat of violence was anticipated, the right response would have been to ensure that the necessary security arrangements were provided to ensure its smooth screening rather than slap a temporary ban. Whether a film contains objectionable elements, and whether it may be screened or not, are decisions that vest with the Central Board for Film Certification, constituted under the stringent Cinematograph Act, 1952. It is difficult to believe that a film which passes through the process of pre-censorship with its rigid guidelines contains material that would upset the sentiments of a religious community and pose a real danger to public order.
It is a pity that such reflexive bans are imposed despite the courts reiterating time and again that a law and order threat does not justify such action. In 2006, the Supreme Court adopted this position while dismissing a petition seeking to bar the screening of The Da Vinci Code; a little later, the Madras High Court quashed the Tamil Nadu government’s order suspending the screening of the film on the ground that it “may lead to demonstrations and disturb the peace and tranquillity of the state.” The landmark case, which set the tone for these and related judgments is S. Rangarajan vs. P. Jagajivan Ram, in which the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the right of the former, a film producer, to release Ore Oru Gramathile, which was critical of the reservation policy in Tamil Nadu’s educational institutions. In a stirring judgment that underlined that it was the duty of the state to protect the right to unpopular forms of speech, the court held that “freedom of expression cannot be suppressed on account of threat of demonstration and processions or threat of violence.” As it observed, this “would be tantamount to negation of the rule of law and a surrender to blackmail and intimidation.” Given the precedents, it is highly doubtful that the Tamil Nadu government’s ban on Vishwaroopam will withstand judicial scrutiny. In capitulating before those who protested against the film, the State has only passed the buck on its screening to the judiciary. Could this be exactly what it wanted?
Keywords: Vishwaroopam film release, Vishwaroopam film controversy, Muslim group protest, TN govt. ban, Madras High Court, Kamal Haasan
This is another excellent piece of article. We have an independent censor board and the government could form a committee to recommend guidelines around religious sentiments. But it should never give up to a small unpopular group of street protesters. Through this thoughtless act, the government in fact has opened up a Pandora ’s Box. In a democratic country, sense of tolerance especially artistic freedom should be promoted for an open and an inclusive society building.
I agree with article's viewpoint. This is a classic example of mis-
governance and ignorance. The government is just proving that any
group or community can hold our country hostage by threatening
violence. Any group with anti social attitude can claim to get
offended.
Hindu organizations get offended when some western cultural aspects
crossover into India. Young people especially women find it appealing
and liberating. In the name of getting offended, these organizations
opening man-handle young people regardless of gender without fear of
action from the police or government. Seems like their religions are
OK with it when they do such a clearly savage act.
Though Dalai Lama calls India's definition of secularism as better
because we respect religion. We should definitely not let religion our
dictate policy and infringe our constitutional rights of free speech
and free expression. The concept of reasonable restriction to these
rights as said by Justice Katju is also NOT acceptable.
Succumbing to the threats of fringe loonatics, begfs the question as to who rules the country. Quite rightly, films which are not in the national interest need to be scrutinized not necessarily banned. There will always be lunatics in our sociey. Do we respond to every objection for the perceived fear of violence. If there is a need to block any flim/publication/artictic work, then the courts should be the decision maker and not politicians. Politicians make decisions based on vote bank politics and are uninformed in the area of decision. The Film Board is negated when fringe groups and politicians come into the picture (no pun intended!!).
I have seen this movie in the US and let me tell this to our fellow mainstream Muslim brother (not the fringe ones), what you are being fed about this movie, there is not an ounce of it. Not to be a spoiler on the plot of the movie but to share publicly available information - this movie potrays Indian Muslims in good light, the protogonist is an Indian Muslim and the antogonist is a Pashto speaking terrorist based out of Afghanistan. To our TMMK brothers, even if you are not going to agree with me this movie shows that a Tamil Muslim saves our Country and the World. To Kamal Hassan's point, you should be proud of that. Your holy book never appears in the movie neither was there any desecration of any sort... Watch it for yourself and decide and do not go by what a select few try to mislead you for their political and situational gains!
Let's strike some raw nerve here, and let's make it sure
So if some religious sentiments are hurt or some sects are offended I'm
not allowed to express my self ?
So one major religion worships deities and stones, and another religion
says it is a sin to worship them. So fundamentally they are at odds and
they should negate each other. And I'm an atheist, and in a same
fundamental way either both of them should eliminate me or I should
eliminate them. But it is not the case and we should not suppose to do
so. We won't do because we respect others opinions eventhough we agree
with them or not. It stems from the basic fact to respect for a person.
Disagreeing with others should never be with force. Even as basic
things as religions, which are fundamentally disagree, are coexisting
why can't people with different opinions ?
"Let the reality be arbiter of the more reasonable argument".
@ Kabir : "It influences the psyche of public and provides inspiration
for all people whether it is good or bad" - If your argument is valid
then by this time because of all the good movies ( Victory of good over
evil) and all religious good books the world should be heaven, and all
the sins might have disappeared, but it is not the case in reality.
@ Jahir: "Again i afraid, what will be the views of majority towards
muslim after seeing the film, if negative, surely this film agaist
humanity" Do you really believe that people change their mind just
after watching movies ? Ok , even if they change why should an artist
bother about it ? His right to express him self and his right to earn
money are more fundamental legally binding than presumed ghettoisation,
and presumed majority view towards minority.
Let's make it clear, rights of a person are something that are so
fundamental, indispensable that even the entire nation's population
cann't negate a single persons rights.
I was right about everyone getting offended easily. These days even the smallest things are found to be "offensive". If this continues, I as a smoker will find the vilifying of smoking as offensive, I as an atheist will find meetings about religion offensive. TN government just like always has pandered to jobless groups having no constructive intent. I really hope people of this country use their time more constructively.
@R Raghavan, the ads are fair and are not unethical because the Hindu's editorial
department is independent of marketing and business department. Therefore we see
columns by P Sainath on paid news. One has to appreciate the Hindu.
We often hear the logic that the Censor board has passed the film. Can the Editorial team also explain why a film (a recent tamil film where two sisters dream about one man) rejected as unfit for watching by a censor board, rejected again by the second board was deemed fit for view by the a third board, if there are strong rules and guidelines that determine their action.
Secondly, the central board does not understand local sentiments/sensitivities and hence might not see it in the same context. The Apex court has rightly caught that and has banned screening of DAM 999.
If you say any certification is sufficient, why do we have certification for English films in India which are certified by their respective boards earlier.
The Editorial is honest and hits the nail on the head! Rabindranath Tagore's "Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit" seems to have become unfortunately true in our country. Intolerance of small groups cause the majority to suffer. It's just a film and it has been CLEARED by the censor board. Now, for the State government to successfully ban it, only proves Ratan Tata's description of India as a "banana republic" where anything goes. Maybe we still are unable to govern ourselves! I'm sorry to say this, but this forces me to think, whether we would have been better off, under the British for a hundred more years!
Sometimes it looks like deliberate publicity of the event which is to be set for gaining popularity ,I think this is the same example of that event.Film maker were assured that it would have been checked and censored by CBFC but unfortunately nothing had happened like this ...so they left with no option but to contact their political ally to impose a ban on this film on account of communal violence.
Congrats !! perpetrators have got success in their designed and fabricated game to catch the eye of the public and also give some space to write any comment,critics and story for intellectuals...
The editorial has rightly noted that the ban cannot withstand judicial scrutiny. That the TN govt has passed the buck to the judiciary is evident. But one is tempted to read a sinister motive as the cascading effect of the ban in other South Indian cities such as Hyderabad and Bangalore reveals now. Is the last minute ban to protect communal harmony or to ruin the business prospects of the movie by exposing it to the financial menace of movie piracy? As the super star has noted, let there be an amicable settlement based on dialogue and goodwill. Let the world class movie icon not be hurt too much to recover fast from the fall out of this adversity.
My dear brother Kabir,
I appreciate your view point and it is certainly important that
actors, for that matter, any citizen of the country should not forget
his responsibility. In this specific instance, let us leave it in the
hands of censor board, which is the regulatory authority to deal with
it. They have given the sign off, so we should trust such institutions
to do their duties.
I appreciate your concern but I would like to assure you that there
wont be anything in the movie which spurs bigotry. Let us trust our
institutions to do their duty.
In Many such films,after stereotyped bearded man as Muslim terrorists, one private Eng.Institute in tirunelveli not allowed a bearded muslim student(from my neighborhood)into the class for past one week,only because of having the beard. Freedom of speech of few snatches freedom of living of many. Very few misguided muslim terrorists actions indeed affected the few majority that day, but ultimate looser is their own community with many more discrimination unseen for years. The time of the hour is to bridge the communities, not the reverse.
Are we to believe that amma got afraid of protest and hence banned? For a lady, who dealt with stronger trade unions and govt employees with iron fist, it is very difficult to digest that she buckled under threat from fringe elements.
The personal equation must have deteriorated in the recent past and it is simply amma's way of reminding her brother as to who is in charge of the state.
I Envy the judge who got a free show.
A timely reminder.
“freedom of expression cannot be suppressed on account of threat of demonstration and processions or threat of violence.” As it observed, this “would be tantamount to negation of the rule of law and a surrender to blackmail and intimidation. The ban is a shame on the state, where Periyar preached the most controversial and revolutionary ideas of his times.
I wish all those who want this state to remain free and progressive, stand up and tell the Govt. how much we cherish the freedom , guranteed to us on our first Republic Day.
I am appaled that the most secular newspaper in India The Hindu has
taken this editorial stance.It has become a fashion to stereotype
Muslim community especially in south Indian movies.Would Movie makers
dare do the same to dalit of other communities.Are only Muslims
terrorists.Our Honourable Home Minister Shinde has gone on ercord that
Hindus are terrorists too.Why dont these film makers prject BJP/RSS as
terrorist outfits.The use of the revered muslim chants as being used
by terrorist elemnts is abominable.Its time Movie makers too such
sentiments into consideration.Amma Jayalalitha has taken corerct
stance.May GOD bless her
Kamal's earlier movie "Dasavatharam" has dialogues that could claimed to
hurt both Muslims and Hindus. Yet that movie was allowed to run without
any problem. There is more to this ban than meets the eye. Every issue
these days is influenced by the political angle, with justice and
fairness taking a back seat. Kamal must be ruing messing up the
original release date---if he had just gone ahead and released it on the
11th without the avoidable DTH controversy, he would have raked in the
moolah now.
I presume there is some bad blood between Mr. Kamal Haasan & the head of the present TN government. It is obvious that the government has aided & abetted in the banning of the film. Even 2 weeks prior to this incident, the producer had some issues with the exhibitors & had gone the DTH route for telecast of the movie. The government was looking at ways & means to somehow stop the release of the film & hence got hold of these fringe elements & encouraged them to carry out its hidden agenda. So what better way than to go the communal route
I heard that one scene in the film, a Muslim boy forced into violene method, going to school instead and many already filmed in bad light before.As a common muslim, its stereotype the community.In this polarised country,i am afraid, this film may deepen the enmity of majarity towards minority, which may have an impact like not renting houses to muslims or dislike the neighborhood of minority,which is already happening in our metros Mumbai & delhi(The Hindu,reported this some time back).
Those who are commenting here, may not experieced the pain of ghettoisation.
Sure, film will get screened,after this publicity more will watch than expected.Again i afraid, what will be the views of majority towards muslim after seeing the film, if negative, surely this film agaist humanity.
"In capitulating before those who protested against the film, the State
has only passed the buck on its screening to the judiciary. Could this
be exactly what it wanted?" Well said, The Hindu, true to your tradition
of raising your voice quickly, whenever freedom of expression suffers
even temporarily,due to political expediency of the powers that be, at
the cost of administrative responsibility.
While it is necessary to protect freedom of expression ,one should not
ignore the larger picture here.Cinema is not simply entertainment in
TN.It influences the psyche of public and provides inspiration for all
people whether it is good or bad.In this atmosphere film makers have
to play a responsible role.Movies produced based on fringe incidents
happened somewhere in the country or a distant place could disturb
ordinary life of many innocent people.Already there is some sort of
social discrimination is practiced against Muslims in renting or buying
of houses in many parts of TN.This is slowly leading to ghettos
similar to Gujarat.we want more unity among different religions for
well being of Nation.It does not mean that I support crimes committed by some
misled Muslims.Actors are adored like God in TN so they need to be more
responsible and focus on Good not bad examples.
Sad to see a sorry state of affairs in the Indian nation, where fringe rightist groups from a religious community, hold to ransom the right to free expression enshrined in the constitution. How many more books & films would be banned before we understand that as a nation there are graver issues we need to resolve than such religious bigotry.
While the editorial is to the point and well-balanced, it's unfair on the part of The Hindu to carry ads [in its supplements, yesteraday and today] announcing the release of VISHWAROOPAM [Tamil]! It is certainly not ethical and The Hindu has lost an opportunity to set a sterling example by not carrying the ads, post-ban and refunding the payment to the producer. No amount of excuses justifes this!
This should really stop. Why is the government(all over India) always trying to pass the buck ?
When a film gets a green signal from the Censor Board then the
director of that film can easily move forward to release the same
despite opposition from a particular religious community. This is the
law and the Supreme Court of India presupposes it. Therefore the
question which initially arises out of this ‘go ahead’ scenario that
what was the necessity for Mr. Hassan to organise a special screening
of the film given the fact that it has already been approved by the
Censor Board? Does he want his movie to be popularised highly?
Central Board for Film
Certification comprises of equal number of representatives from
diverse religious groups in order to ensure that no example of skewed
representation is going to be sought for. They are intelligent and
judicious enough to certify a film for public viewing so as to ensure
that no particular religious group’s sentiment is upset. We are
frequently citing the instance of Malaysia on media channels that the
film is ok in Malaysia particularly to that community which is
opposing some clippings of this film in India. Then what’s the problem
in India?
We should not forget that India is
a secular country where all religious groups are constitutionally
entitled to perform their religious rituals without any bar from
anywhere and we should not commit any such practice that hurts a religious sentiment.
Author rightly criticizes outsourcing of the case to judiciary. Tamil
Nadu government should have handled the case more prudently. A film
cannot be banned temporarily based on anticipation of demonstratations
by some communities. Despite a few judgements by judiciary in such
cases, Tamil Nadu government went forward with temporary ban. It's just
a procrastination ploy. When a government can't handle such cases, how
can it govern millions of people effectively??
I am shocked at the way Tamil Nadu government has heeded to the demands of some fringe groups even after knowing that CBFC has cleared the movie and has given its nod, in that case why do we even bother to have such institutions, which were created in the first place to induce some kind of sophistication into the way in which we all agreed to live together as a society. Lets leave it to the mobs and such fringe groups of which there is no dearth in this country of ours with a population of 1.2 billion people to decide on how the society should run itself, A few religious groups have held the government which had taken an oath to uphold democracy to ransome, This government has proved its incompetence, Governments are supposed to nuture the ways in which art of anykind can reflect us the society, Art has to imitate life if life has to become any better.
TN government has acted in haste. Its action to ban the film even after
the censors had cleared it is somewhat unusual. It is public who ahve to
give their verdict on the film
Your editorial is excellent and what is going on Andhra Pradesh supports it. Day in and day out in the name of sentiment and aspirations of local people, one political party and its leaders criticise and codemn people from other parts of the state in choicest terms, and encourage enemity between sections of people, government is a silent watcher and no action is taken perhaps in the name of same excuse, "maintaining peace and tranquility". But the bad blood and animosity that is manifesting due to the silence, no political party is bothered and even the media is allowed to display those things on TV or print.
Congrats. Consistent stand on issues such as these. I am reminded of your editorial dated
03-Mar-2012 on a similar issue pertaining to Taslima Nasreen.
The TN govt just ensured that Mr.Karunanidhi is put in a fix. They ensured that they have
played to the Muslim vote bank. And have ensured that the DMK is under strain to explain
its silence on this issue.
In these days of competitive vote bank politics, actions such as these are only to be
anticipated.
This is just unfair. When the Censor board has no objections why would
somebody who has not seen the movie have? This clearly is a joke and
ridiculing the Censor Board's decision. Well, why do we even have to
go to the Censor Board, In the future, invite the people who demanded
a ban and get a censor certificate from them! In your face, Censor
Committee. Please do something to uphold your decision and
reputation!!
Sincerely,
Disappointed Common Man
The editorial could have considered the Supreme court ruling that upheld the ban on Dam
999 by TN Govt. It is not that the Govt is at fault all the times. This editorial is some what
prematured without considering the facts of the case.
what a restrained editorial by The Hindu!!!. If it had been 'fringe'
Hindu organizations then words like 'fanatic' 'fundamentalists'
'communal' 'fascist' would have appeared in the editorial with examples
from protest against M F Hussian's arts. Now if courts have to decide
everything then why we need elected government. Is it not the
responsibility of the government to uphold one's rights? If government
excuses like this then why we need government?
You have done well to condemn the abdication of it's "fundamental responsibility — that of protecting the right to free expression" by the Tamil Nadu Govt. Giving into threats such as these issued by a few organisations only encourages them to demand more in future.
Kamal is a good actor. But no one has the rights to spoil the integrity.
no one has the rights to make communal tension and hate propaganda..
Instead of breaking the back of such fundamentalist forces which want to gain mileage, sadly the Govt seems to have either crumbled under pressure or wanted to pass the buck.
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