‘Kingdom’: Madras HC has directed TN Police to protect theaters.

The Madras High Court on Thursday (August 7, 2025) directed the Tamil Nadu Police to provide adequate protection to the cinema theaters. Empire If there were reports of the dangers issued by the theater owners or any person/organization to be interrupted.

Justice D. Bharath Chakraborty passed the orders while disposing of a writ petition filed by SSI Production, which attained the Tamil Nadu theatrical rights of the Tamil Nadu the Tamil Nadu Natya Rights released in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi, which complains about the dangers issued to the theater owners to the members of Tamiller Kachi (NTK).

The petitioner’s counsel told the court that NTK Chief Coordinator S.K. Slenn tweeted against the film on his X handle on August 4, alleging that it portrays the Tamil Eelam issue in a derogatory manner, and since then, his party members began to disrupt screening in several theaters.

He was damaged at some places in the film’s poster and court video of flex boards and claimed that in some theaters, protesters had entered the cinema hall and lodged their objections to their contents in an attempt to stop the public from watching the film.

Some theater owners of the state were also produced before the court to the letters written by NTK members. “So far, 16 persons were arrested in relation to the issue and several demonstrations were carried out by NTK cadre,” the government advocate (criminal side) said.

On the other hand, Advocate S. Shankar, representing Mr. Seaman, told the court to his client, as a leader of a political party, only opposed the contents of the film, but no one had stopped it from screening. He also said that only peaceful protests were demonstrated against the film in a democratic manner.

Saying that there is no need to fly out some different incidents leading to the arrest of 16 people, he said, it was not right from the manufacturers. Empire To depict that not all Sri Lankan were Tamil natives, but only migrants, and that all of them were involved in smuggling such as illegal activities.

Intervening at this point, Justice Chakraborty said, “You and I cannot agree with the content of the film if it is very, very disgusting as you say … some issues may be close to our heart, but another person may have a different view on him. In a democracy, artistic freedom will always have to be preserved.”

In the same breath, he agreed that a political party also had the right to register its protest, the judge said, “Such protest was obtained after receiving proper permission from the police and at a place scheduled by the police for conducting the protests, and so, he said.”

“In a democracy, the producer of a film has got every right to express his fair views. In this case, it is the specific case of the writ petitioner that Empire There is a work of imagination. Even if the ideas expressed in a film are disgusting or unattainable, no third party can stop the exhibition of the film or threatened the theater owners after the censor board approves it for screening in theaters, ”said the judge.