A day after the Gujarat High Court stayed the release of Junaid Khan, Jaideep Ahlawat’s Maharaj, YRF Netflix pleaded that the stay on its streaming be lifted. Senior lawyers’ requests for a brief urgent hearing were also declined by Justice Sangeeta Vishen, who will hear them on Tuesday, and by then, the filmmaker and OTT platforms have been told to file their replies.
A reputed, veteran trade source told Firstpost, “YRF and Netflix are challenging the Stay order. The matter is in court. Maharaj is based on a real-life case. It is adapted from Saurabh Shah’s book titled Maharaj. The author has also come out to say that the film does not vilify the Vaishnav community or the religion. It is about a social reformer, who brought about a positive change in society. The makers are hopeful for a positive outcome on this.”
In their application, YRF has stated that the film portrays an abuse of power by a particular head of a temple within the Vaishnav sect, and the attempt by a social reformer, Karsan Das Mulji (a devout Vaishnav himself), to show the true abusive nature of the priest, to the devotees and the general public.
The application also states that the original petitioners have moved to court with half-baked facts and without knowing that the producers have added a disclaimer in a slide in the film which reads, ““A sect is far more important than any individual or incident. Treating this incident as an exception, the Vaishnav sect continued on the path of religion. The Vaishnav sect and its followers continue to grow and remain a proud and integral part of the social, cultural and religious fabric of India.”
Maharaj has been directed by Siddharth P. Malhotra. The film is based on the true story of the Maharaj Libel Case of 1862 and stars Junaid Khan, Jaideep Ahlawat, Shalini Pandey. The film marks the debut of Aamir Khan’s son Junaid and is produced by Aditya Chopra under the banner of YRF Entertainment.
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