Adipurush: 'Do You Consider Countrymen Brainless?' Allahabad High Court Slams Makers

New Delhi: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court came down heavily on the censor board and the makers of the recently released Pan-India release 'Adipurush' amid the ongoing row around the films' dialogues. The court directed co-writer Manoj Muntashir Shukla to be made a party in the case and issued notice directing him to respond within a week.

The court has an ongoing petition demanding a ban on 'Adipurush,' a mythological action film based on the Hindu epic Ramayana that is hurting Hindu sentiments.

"The nature of dialogues in the film is a big issue. Ramayana is a paragon for us. People read Ramcharitmanas before leaving home," it said, adding that films shouldn't touch certain things.

"Agar hum log ispar bhi aankh band kar len kyonki yeh kaha jaata hai ki yeh dharm ke log bade sahishnu (tolerant) hain to kya uska test liya jayega? (If we close our eyes on this issue too, because it is said that the people of this religion are very tolerant, will it be put to test as well?)," the bench remarked.

The Allahabad High Court questioned whether the film certification authority, popularly called the censor board, fulfilled its responsibility.

The court observed, "It's good that people did not harm the law and order situation after watching the film. Lord Hanuman and Sita have been shown like they are nothing. These things should have been removed from the very beginning. Some scenes seem to be of "A" (adult) category. It's very difficult to watch such films."

"That alone won't work. What will you do with the scenes? Seek instructions, then we will definitely do whatever we want to do... In case the exhibition of the film is stopped, then the people whose feelings have been hurt, will get relief," the court added.

Regarding the disclaimer, the bench said, "Do the people who put the disclaimer consider the countrymen, and youth, to be brainless? You show Lord Rama, Lord Laxman, Lord Hanuman, Ravana, Lanka and then say it is not Ramayana? We saw it on the news that people went to the theatres and got the film shut down. Be thankful nobody vandalised it."

Adipurush stars Prabhas, Kriti Sanon, Sunny Singh and Saif Ali Khan in lead roles.