Mumbai: The Bombay High Court, on Monday, cleared the way for release of the movie ‘Ajey: The Untold Story of a Yogi’ without any edits. The film, inspired by the book ‘The Monk Who Became Chief Minister’ is said to be based on the life of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
The bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Neela Gokhale passed the order after watching the movie. According to them, it contains nothing objectionable that requires re-editing.
“We have seen the movie in its context, and we don’t see that anything needs to be re-edited. We have paused at every point you flagged. We have noted everything. We don’t find anything objectionable,” the Court observed, setting aside the orders passed by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), seeking cuts and edits.
Initially, the CBFC had raised 29 objections to the film. On August 17, the Revising Committee of the CBFC, after an appeal, struck down eight of those objections but still denied certification to the film.
The Court then decided to watch the movie on August 22. After viewing it, the judges are of the opinion that no changes are required.
The CBFC counsel argued that the film contains obscenity and is potentially defamatory towards Adityanath. However, when asked by the Court whether he had watched the film, the senior advocate admitted that he had not and it was the CBFC’s opinion that certain scenes were objectionable.
This didn’t convince the Court, which wanted to know how the film violated the Cinematograph Act or the certification guidelines. The counsel cited grounds such as public order, obscenity and denigration of women. The Court rejected all of them.
“There is no obscenity. Absolutely nothing. Even considering today’s OTT standards, this is a very mild version,” the Court remarked.
The production house Samrat Cinematics argued that the CBFC had exceeded its jurisdiction by demanding a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from Yogi Adityanath as a precondition for certification.
“They’re acting like moral guardians. The CBFC has a limited mandate. There is no legal bar on portraying a real individual unless it is defamatory,” the producer’s counsel argued.
While the filmmakers have already included a three-line disclaimer stating the movie is fictional and only inspired by real events, the Court suggested that the CBFC may ask for a slightly wider disclaimer.
“There can be one word added ‘creative freedom’. This is alright. This covers everything,” the Court said, referring to the disclaimer already present in the film.
The CBFC cited a Madras High Court order in which an injunction on a movie was granted on similar grounds. The Court, however, noted that in the Madras High Court case, the family of the individual portrayed had come forward and raised objections.
“Here, the person’s family has not objected. If a person believes their right to privacy is affected, they can approach the court. That is not the CBFC’s role,” the Court observed.
