Filmmaker Leena Manimekalai has now been summoned by a Delhi court in a civil suit filed against her and her company, Touring Talkies Media Private Limited, over the poster of her film Kaali that depicts the Hindu goddess "in a very uncalled for way".
The suit was filed by advocate Raj Gaurav. The filmmaker is already facing several FIRs across States. Mr. Gaurav sought an interim injunction to temporarily restrain Ms. Manimekalai and her company from posting the poster of the film, its promo video or any image related to it on social media.
Judge Abhishek Kumar refused to grant the injunction immediately. "The defendant needs to be heard before passing any order against them," he had said in his July 8 order. The court added that an interim injunction was a discretionary relief and that the Supreme Court had repeatedly held that an ex-parte, ad-interim injunction had to be granted only in "exceptional circumstances".
The court issued summons and notice to Ms. Manimekalai and her company under Order 39, Rule 1 & 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, and posted the matter for hearing next on August 6.
In his suit, Mr. Gaurav said: "The poster of the film depicts Hindu goddess Kali smoking cigarette, which not only hurts the religious sentiments of common Hindu but is also against basics of morality and decency. Further, the alleged poster was tweeted by the defendant no. 1 [Ms. Manimekalai] from her twitter handle."
