Mumbai: Bombay High Court on Tuesday said the movie ‘Hamare Baarah’ sends out a social message for empowerment of women and is not offensive to religious sentiments of Muslims.

“This movie is about upliftment and the voice of women. The trailer is misleading… has caused problems,” said Justices Burgess Colabawalla and Justice Firdosh Pooniwalla. After an initial injunction on June 7, HC allowed the movie’s release. On June 13, Supreme Court stayed the release till HC disposes of the petition.

The judges said they saw the movie and were “sur-prised” that petitioners were making statements based on the trailer. Also, parts of the movie Central Board of Fim Certification (CBFC) objected to are deleted. The judges said the movie is about “one man and one family”. It is about a man’s daughter from first marriage seeking medical termination of the pregnancy for her step-mother due to danger to her life. He refuses as abortion is contrary to their religious beliefs. After his wife’s post-delivery death, he realizes his “huge mistake” and reforms. The judges said they “didn’t see anything in the movie that will incite violence” and the trailer “unnecessarily sensationalizes everything”.

Senior advocate Rahul Narichania, for the producers, said “everybody seems to have been carried away by the trailer”. “But for the trailer we would not be in a mess,” he added. “That is your fault,” said Justice Colabawalla. Narichania said dialogues in the trailer are not in the movie. Advocate Mayur Khandeparkar, for a petitioner, said the trailer was released without CBFC certification.

When advocates argued that the movie misinterprets religious verses, the judges said the movie is not on religious texts. They said the whole theme of the movie isthe man misinterpreting provisions of Quran to do a social wrong. “That is the long and short of the movie,” said Justice Colabawalla. He said the Indian public “is not so gullible” and “neither so silly”. “It is a thinking movie. Not one where you leave your brains at home and want to enjoy absolute nonsense,” he added.

When an advocate said the movie shows domestic violence. Justice Colabawalla said, “Domestic violence is a reality. It is not linked to any religion. It happens in all religions.” On Wednesday, the judges will pass an order for the film’s release on consent terms by the film’s producers and the petitioners to remove objectionable parts.

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Mumbai: Permitting the release of ‘Hamare Baarah’, Bombay HC on Wednesday said Central Board of Film Certification will issue the film a fresh certificate no later than Thursday noon after its producers make certain changes “as per suggestions of the court, and which is agreeable to all the parties”.

On Tuesday, Justice Burgess Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla had said that they had seen the film that sends out a social message for women empowerment, is not based on religious texts, and is not offensive to the religious sentiments of Muslims.

The judges, who had on Tuesday asked the producers if they would pay Rs 5 lakh costs to a charity organization for releasing the trailer without CBFC certification, directed them to donate the amount to NGO Ideal Relief Committee Trust to use for providing relief to people during natural disasters.

“Upon satisfaction of the aforesaid conditions, no party shall have objection to exhibition of the film and its trailer on any platform or screen,” the judges said. They directed YouTube, Twitter and Google to forthwith take down teasers and trailers appearing with the objectionable dialogues.

Tamboli’s advocate Mayur Khandeparkar said with these changes, the petition works out to everybody’s satisfaction.

New Delhi: Just a day before the controversial film ‘Hamare Baarah’ was scheduled for public screening, the Supreme Court on Thursday stayed its release till Bombay High Court decides a petition against the film for allegedly distorting religious text to bring disrepute and defame Islam.

The HC is examining the validity of the clearance given to the film by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). Taking note of the pending case before the HC, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta ordered that the screening of the movie shall remain suspended till the disposal of the petition in HC and requested the court to decide the case expeditiously.

Challenging the Bombay HC’s interim order allowing release of the film, advocate Fauzia Shakil submitted that the film was derogatory of Islamic faith and the trailer itself contained provocative and derogatory statements about the sermons and messages of Surah Al Baqarah and the film should not be allowed to be screened till the court decides the case.

Shakil further submitted that the order passed by HC directing CBFC to form a panel to review the film was an unreasoned one as the petition was against the board’s decision, which is one of the interested parties. “The HC could not have directed the CBFC to constitute a committee because the CBFC was a party interested in the litigation,” she said.

The bench also said that they saw the teaser of the film and observed, “If the teaser is so offensive then what about the whole movie...,” raising questions on how the board cleared the film for public screening.

The high court had restrained the filmmaker from releasing the movie till June 14. A day later, it ordered the CBFC to form a panel of three individuals including at least one member from the Muslim community to view the movie. However, the court later allowed release of the movie after the producers agreed to delete certain dialogues from it.