Another setback for Kangana Ranaut-led film Emergency. The film which was scheduled for theatrical release on September 6, has now been pushed. On Wednesday, the Bombay High Court declined to direct orders to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to issue a certificate for Emergency. The court didn't want to intervene due to a directive from the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
As per reports, the MP High Court had directed the censor board to review objections to the film before issuing certification.
For the unversed, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, the film's producer, had approached the Bombay HC seeking an order for the CBFC to issue a certificate for Emergency, which has been directed by sitting MP, Kangana.
As per a report in PTI, in the plea, the producer argued that while the CBFC had prepared the certificate of the film, it was being withheld due to concerns over potential law and order issues following the film's release.
On Wednesday (September 4), a bench comprising of Justices B P Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla acknowledged the producer's claim that the certificate was ready but not yet issued.
What did the Bombay High Court say?
The bench said once the certificate was issued online to the makers of Emergency, CBFC denying that the certificate was not issued to the film as it was not signed by the chairperson is incorrect. The court, however, said that had the Madhya Pradesh HC not ordered, it would have directed the CBFC to issue the certificate on Wednesday itself.
The court said, “We know that there is something else happening behind. We don't want to comment on it. The CBFC shall consider the objections and take a decision by September 18''.
It also added, “The Madhya Pradesh HC has given the CBFC a direction. If we give any relief today then it would be directly in contravention to that order. We will be asking CBFC to breach another HC order if we pass any order today. We cannot do that. Judicial propriety demands that of us.''
Here's what happened in Madhya Pradesh HC
On Tuesday (September 3), the Madhya Pradesh HC heard petitions filed by Sikh groups which alleged that the film contains scenes that may hurt their religious sentiments and may cause unrest. It permitted two petitioners- one the Jabalpur Sikh Sangat and another Sri Guru Singh Sabha to file a detailed presentation of their objections before the CBFC within three days. Post that, it directed the censor board to consider the representation of the petitioner Sikh groups raising objections to the film before issuing the certificate to the movie. The CBFC had claimed they haven't issued issued a certificate to the film yet.
Kangana Ranaut's reaction to Bombay High Court's order
Reacting to the Bombay High Court order, Kangana wrote on X, “High court has blasted censor for illegally withholding the cirtificate of #emergency (sic)''.
Kangana Ranaut has played the role of the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the film. It also stars Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, late Satish Kaushik, and Milind Soman among others.
