Kochi: Kerala High Court on Wednesday asked the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and the central government to produce the Bombay High Court verdict which permitted to release Udta Punjab with just one cut. The court passed the directive while issuing notices to the CBFC and the centre on a plea filed by the makers of Malayalam movie Kathakali challenging the board’s suggestion for three cuts in the film for issuing certification.
Justice P.B. Suresh Kumar issued the directive on a petition by Saijo Kannanaikkal, director and producer of the film, and Kamal, FEFKA directors’ union president.
The petitioners contended that the CBFC had asked the director to delete three scenes in the film. In fact, he had already deleted the objectionable words from one scene.
The denial of certification is preventing the commercial and artistic use of the film within the country.
The guidelines for certification of the film for public exhibition obliges the CBFC to ensure that human sensibility are not offended by vulgarity, obscenity, they said.
The petitioner has not violated any of the guidelines of the board nor he had offended any human sensibilities.
The attitude of the board amounted to denying the constitutional right of freedom of expression, guaranteed by Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, they said.
