The Supreme Court on Friday stayed proceedings pending in various high courts against the controversial movie Adipurush. The film, a retelling of the epic Ramayana, has come under attack for its dialogues and use of colloquial language. A bench of Justices S K Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia issued notice to parties in the case.
The Allahabad High Court on June 30 had directed the makers of the movie to appear before it on July 27 and told the central government to form a committee to give its views on the film. It was hearing separate petitions of Kuldeep Tiwari and Naveen Dhawan seeking a ban on the movie.
The high court had ordered director Om Raut, producer Bhushan Kumar, and dialogue writer Manoj Muntashir to appear before it on July 27. It has also directed the central government to constitute a five-member committee to give its view on the film as to whether it had hurt the feelings of the public. In an order, it had also directed the government to review the decision of granting of certificate to the movie.
The high court had said the secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) will file their personal affidavits apprising it as to whether the guidelines for certification of the film for public exhibition has been followed in letter and spirit.
Directed by Om Raut, Adipurush stars Prabhas, Kriti Sanon, and Saif Ali Khan in lead roles. The film opened to negative reviews but had a good opening weekend. However, due to negative word of mouth, its box office numbers plummeted soon after. Made on a reported budget of Rs 500 crore, Adipurush has made less than Rs 400 crore worldwide.
