The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a plea to cut a scene from Padmaavat that eulogised the obsolete practice of Sati, where a widow immolates herself on her husband’s pyre.
Rejecting the plea by Swami Agnivesh, the bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said that once a film is given certification by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), then there is nothing that can constitute an offence.
Agnivesh had sought the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against the producer and director of the film due to the scenes.
Referring to the novel Devdas by Bengali novelist Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Chief Justice Misra said: “Read the book and see its celluloid version in which veteran actor Dilip Kumar has performed the role of main character Devdas, who turns alcoholic for the loss of love.”
Noting that the writer was critical of this character and never justified being an alcoholic, he asked: “Has any lover become alcoholic because of the film Devdas?”
Padmaavat, which saw a lot of protests and resistance before its release, was a success at the box office. Featuring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor, it was filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s take on 16th century Sufi poet Malik Mohammad Jayasi’s epic poem Padmavat.
