Earlier this month, several petitions were filed in the High Court seeking a ban on the film, claiming that it was targeting a particular community by showing derogatory scenes.
The Bombay High Court on June 18 said it found nothing objectionable in the film ‘Humare Barah’ and said the film was aimed at empowering women and uplifting their status in society.
A bench of judges, Justice BP Colabawala and Justice Firdaus Pooniwala, said they had seen the film starring actor Annu Kapoor and it neither has anything objectionable against the religious text Quran nor against the Muslim community, rather the aim of the film is to uplift women in the society. The bench of judges said this after hearing several petitions filed against the film. Terming the first trailer objectionable, which has now been removed, the court said that some objectionable scenes have now been removed from the film. However, the court will impose a fine on the makers of the film for releasing the trailer of the film even before getting certification from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).
The court said, “This film was a “thought provoking film” and not one in which the audience is expected to “keep their brains at home” and just enjoy the film. This film is actually for the upliftment of women. In the film a maulana misinterprets the Quran and in fact a Muslim man objects to the same in the scene. So, this shows that people should use their brains and not follow such maulanas blindly. There was infringement in the trailer. So you have to give something to a charity of the petitioner’s choice. Costs have to be paid. This litigation has brought so much unpaid publicity to the film. We do not think there is anything in the film that would incite any kind of violence. If we had thought so, we would have been the first to oppose it. The Indian public is not that naïve or stupid.”
The judges expressed surprise that the petitioners made serious statements against the film without even watching it and claimed that the film promotes domestic violence. “The film is about a domineering man and his family,” the bench said.
Earlier this month, several petitions were filed in the High Court seeking a ban on the film and claimed that the film was targeting a particular community due to derogatory scenes, which also hurt religious sentiments. On this, the court postponed the release of the film and asked the makers to remove certain objectionable portions from the film and only then release it as per the CBFC guidelines. Following this, the petitioners moved the Supreme Court, which stayed the film and asked the High Court to take an appropriate decision in the matter. The bench agreed with the petitioners that the trailer and posters were objectionable.
Referring to a scene in the film in which a character threatens to kill his daughter and then takes the name of God, the bench of judges said, “It may be objectionable. Doing something like this in the name of God may send a wrong message. Removing this one line will not hamper the creative freedom of the producer.”
The bench of judges said that if all the concerned parties agree and agree to remove the objectionable scenes from the film, they are advised to submit the terms of consent, after which the court will pass an order allowing the release of the film on Wednesday. The film was earlier scheduled to hit the theatres on June 7 and then on June 14.
