Injunction sought against Adipurush for inaccurate portrayal of Hindu gods

NEW DELHI: A plea has been filed in a court here seeking injunction against the upcoming movie "Adipurush", alleging it has depicted Hindu gods in an "unwarranted" and "inaccurate" way in its promotional video.

The matter has been listed for hearing before senior civil judge Abhishek Kumar on Monday.

The plea filed by advocate Raj Gaurav on Friday sought permanent and mandatory injunction against defendants - producer Bhushan Kumar and director and co-producer Om Raut - alleging they had manipulated the basics of the epic Ramayana.

"The defendants have hurt the religious, cultural, historical and civilizational sentiments of the plaintiff and other Hindus by depiction of Hindu gods Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman in a very unwarranted and inaccurate way in the teaser or promotional video of their upcoming movie Adipurush," the plea claimed.

While the traditional picture of Lord Ram was that of a serene and calm person, who believed in forgiveness, the defendants in the promotional video had shown him as "atrocious, revengeful and angry", wearing a leather strap and modern footwear made of leather, the plea alleged.

The plea further claimed that Lord Hanuman was depicted in an "atrocious manner", wearing leather straps all over his body and his appearance was against the description in the religious verse of Hanuman Chalisa.

Also, the character of Ravan, a staunch Brahman, was "awfully cheap and appalling", while the vanar sena was shown as a "whoop of chimpanzees", the plea alleged.

"That prima facie the teaser or promo of the movie is so atrocious wicked and diabolical that it along with the pursuant movie which is to be released on January 12, 2023, should be outrightly banned in its present form in the interest of religious feelings, sentiments and aspirations of Hindus of India and elsewhere," the plea said.

Therefore, the court could grant ex parte and ad interim stay of the movie in its present form along with a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from depicting Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman as shown in the promotional video, the plea said.

It also sought directions mandating the defendants to remove the promotional video of the movie from all social media platforms.