The Telangana High Court on Thursday reserved its orders on release of political thriller Vyooham of well-known filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma.
After hearing the arguments from both sides Justice Surepalli Nanda reserved orders on the petition by producer Dasari Kiran Kumar, who pleaded for vacating the interim order suspending release of the movie in theatres.
The producer’s counsel A. Venkatesh submitted to the court that if it believes that the film may influence the forthcoming elections in Andhra Pradesh, it may give permission for the release in Telangana. However, the counsel of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) general secretary Nara Lokesh raised an objection.
The film, which is allegedly defamatory towards former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu, was scheduled to release on December 29. Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh had approached the High Court, challenging the censor certificate for the movie.
On December 28, Justice Surepalli Nanda had suspended the release on the ground that the Revising Committee failed to state reasons for granting a Certificate of Exhibition when initially the application had been rejected noting a series of irregularities. The court that no major deletions or the changes were made, the Revising Committee granted the certificate.
The court directed the Central Board of Film Certification, Revising Committee, and producer of the movie to place all records pertaining to the movie before the Court on the next date of hearing.
The film is said to be about the conditions surrounding the passing of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and the political entry of his son Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is now the Chief Minister.
Lokesh had filed a petition in the Telangana High Court challenging certificate for theatrical release of the movie alleging attempts to spoil the image of Chandrababu Naidu in the controversial movie.
The TDP leader’s counsel had argued that the entire film contained defamatory remarks against Chandrababu Naidu. The film allegedly portrays Naidu as the antagonist and Jagan Mohan Reddy as the protagonist.
On January 2, the film’s producer had approached a division bench of the High Court challenging the interim order. His counsel submitted that the filmmaker has suffered loss of crores of rupees due to its release being suspended.
However, the court had refused to interfere with the single judge order.
