It’s For Movie Goers To Look It In Their Own Perspective: Madras HC Rejects Plea Against Mersal [Read Order]

While rejecting a plea seeking revocation of censor certificate granted to Vijay-starrer movie Mersal, the Madras High Court has observed that the depiction in the movie is nothing more than an expression and it is for movie-goers to look it in their own perspective.

In a matured democracy, view of the minority has to be allowed to be expressed. The question as to whether the said view is palatable or not can never be the one for debate, a bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice M Sundar said.

A Ashvathaman had approached the high court contending that some of the scenes in the movie depicted wrong facts with reference to operation of GST. “It has been wrongly stated that G.S.T. is collected at 28% in India as against 7% in Singapore, but, no free medical aid is provided in India as being done in Singapore. The fact remains that the slab has been fixed for collection of GST upto a maximum of 28%,” he said in his petition.

According to him, these wrong facts as portrayed in the film would constitute affront to the sovereignty of the country and the film being the powerful medium, the general public, would be carried away by the wrong message sought to be conveyed.

Unimpressed with these submissions, the bench said the censor board is the competent authority to consider as to whether the film requires a proper certification or not. “The certification given by the second respondent has not been put into challenge. We are unable to see any non-application of mind involved as the petitioner has failed to substantiate it,” the bench said.

Nobody can be forced to see the movie. Ultimately, it is the choice of an individual, the bench added.

The petitioner also relied on a decision of Madras High Court in A Arulmozhi vs Government of India wherein it had revoked the censor certificate issued to the film New. In the said case, the court had found that the movie features extreme vulgarity. Rejecting the contention, the bench said the instant case is not that of extreme vulgarity or obscenity as against the opinion expressed by one of the characters in a movie, which has been taken note of by the censor board, after applying its mind, while granting the certificate.