The Telangana High Court in the case observed and has suspended the release of the Political thriller -Vyuham for three weeks holding 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 yet, no major deletions or the changes were made.
The General Secretary of the Telugu Desam Party, TDP approached the High Court wherein it prayed that the certificate for exhibition be cancelled on the ground that it was highly defamatory towards the Party President Chandra Babu Naidu.
The respondent in the case contended that the Revising committee considered all aspects of the movie and granted the certificate only after making a thorough analysis.
The court stated that the disclaimer of ‘based on true events’ had been removed presenting the movie as a work of fiction.
The bench headed by Justice Surepalli Nanda after referring to the initial rejection report submitted by the examining committee noted that the Committee had rejected the application for exhibition and has observed that the movie was derogatory towards certain people and their political parties, as the same names and party symbols had been used throughout the movie.
It has been held by the committee that violative of guideline 2(xviii) of the S, O.No.836-(E), issued in 1991, notified by the Government of India, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Section 5B(2) of the Cinematography Act, 1952.
The court found that despite only two minutes’ worth of recordings being deleted, the Committee issued the certificate the second time around, without as much as assigning reasons which is violative of sub-rules 9,10,11&12 of Rules 24 of the Cinematography (Certification) Rules, 1983.
The bench of Justice Nanda held that Article 21 is a fundamental right with no restrictions, whereas the fundamental right to expression can only be exercised within limitations.
The court noted that the mere delay in approaching a Court for infringement of fundamental rights will not dilute the rights of an individual.
The court while considering the facts and circumstances of the case observed and finds that this being the prima facie case is made out and balance of convenience at this stage lies in favour of the petitioner and therefore, the validity of the certificate dated December 13, 2023 which is issued by 3rd respondent in favour of the 6th respondent for theatrical release of the movie ‘VYUHAM’ is suspended for a period of three weeks from today and the respondents 5 and 6 are accordingly restrained from releasing the movie ‘VYUHAM’ based on the said certificate.
The court while considering the facts and circumstances of the case directed the Central Board of Film Certification, Revising Committee, and Producer of the movie to place all records which pertains to the movie before the Court on the next date of hearing.
