New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the notification issued by six state governments ‘banning’ the release of ‘Padmaavat,’ granting the green signal to the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial to hit the theatres across the country on 25 January.
The Court also restrained any other state from issuing similar notifications and orders prohibiting screening of ‘Padmaavat’.
The Court on Wednesday had agreed to hear on Thursday a plea of the producers of the controversial Deepika Padukone-starrer movie ‘Padmaavat’ opposing the ban imposed on its screening by various state governments.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud considered the submission of the counsel of Viacom 18 and other producers of the film that the plea be heard urgently as the movie was set for all-India release on January 25.
Governments of Haryana, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand have declared that they will not allow screening of the movie, which also stars Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh in lead roles.
The producers moved the top court through senior lawyer Harish Salve and advocate Mahesh Agarwal and submitted, in a petition, that the movie has undergone changes, including in its title, as suggested by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).
Asserting that the film has been cleared by the CBFC, the plea said the states cannot impose a blanket ban on a film, and its screening can be suspended in a particular area or areas on account of law and order problem, not across the states.
PTI