MUMBAI MIRROR (January 18, 2018)

Producers of Padmaavat on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court to convince four states — Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh — to withdraw the ban on the film.

In their plea, the producers questioned the right of these four state governments to ban the film when the apex court has already clarified that the film’s screening can only be suspended in a particular area if there is law and order situation.

Chief Justice Dipak Misra has reportedly agreed to hear the plea today. The aforementioned states banned the period drama saying its release may pose law and order problems.

Featuring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor in lead roles, Padmaavat is based on 16th century Sufi poet Mohammad Jayasi’s poem Padmavat. Film director Sanjay Leela Bhansali has been under fire for allegedly distorting history, which he has denied.

The film’s producers on January 14 announced that it is all set for a worldwide January 25 release in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil, adding that the period drama will be the first Indian film to get a global IMAX 3D release.
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Mohar Basu and Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; January 18, 2018)

After trying for long to appease protests, Padmaavat makers have finally decided to approach the Supreme Court. The lawyers will cite the example of Aarakshan, and argue that once the censor board has certified a movie, no state can ban it.

When mid-day reached out to Mahesh Agarwal, one of the lawyers representing the case for Viacom18 Motion Pictures (co-producer of Padmaavat), he said that citing the example of Prakash Jha’s Aarakshan (2011), the counsel will argue that the state government cannot ban a film that has been cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). “The ban is illegal. Once the movie has been certified by the CBFC, the state government has no power to issue a ban. A similar issue has been earlier settled by the Supreme Court in the case of Aarakshan. So we’ll take that as an example in our argument.”

For the uninitiated, Aarakshan, which dealt with the policy of caste-based reservations in educational institutions, was granted a U/A certificate by the Censor Board. However, the film was viewed as ‘anti-Dalit’ and banned in several states. But the Supreme Court cleared its nationwide release.

As for Padmaavat, Agarwal pointed out that the Censor Board examined all the allegations made against the drama and recommended modifications accordingly. “The Censor Board took advice from a special panel as well. The makers made the necessary changes, after which the certificate was granted.” It may be noted that besides changing the title (the original title was Padmavati), the film also carries the disclaimer that it doesn’t promote the practice of Sati, among others.

Shobha Sant (CEO, Bhansali Productions) is hopeful of the SC ruling in the film’s favour. “We have total faith in our judicial system. Jodhaa Akbar (2008) too was banned in seven states before its release and the apex court’s intervention resolved the matter.”

Padmaavat is currently banned in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh.