“The Supreme Court of India has put the release of Bollywood film Hamare Baarah on hold. On Thursday, the court intervened after a petition challenged the Bombay High Court’s decision to allow the movie’s release.
Supreme Court stops Annu Kapoor starrer “If teaser is such insulting then what about total movie”
According to Bar and Bench, there are allegations that Hamare Baarah misinterprets one verse from the Quran and demeans Muslim women. The petitioner argued before a bench of Justices SA Bobde and DY Chandrachud that it violates his rights conferred by Articles 19 (1) (a) and 25 of the Constitution which guarantee freedom of speech and right to practice religion.
Inconsistencies have started showing in relation to how the Bombay High Court has handled this case. Initially, on June 5, 2024, they restrained it from being released until June 14th. It was done because of certain concerns raised by an appellant in this matter so as to curb down some negative aspects associated with it; however, later in their ruling they called for a committee comprising among other members a Muslim member as well who would watch or review the movie so that they can determine whether it should be allowed to be shown or not.
The High Court reversed its earlier stance when filmmakers agreed to delete some dialogues considered offensive. However, despite seeking more time for final comments submissions by committee, this move was made without considering this plea.
Whereas going through the contents of teaser itself during hearing Azhar Tamboli’s appeal challenging Bombay High Courts order against screening of said film recently filed at Supreme Courts’ Departmental registry Justice Ashok Bhushan observed that prima facie content in teaser appears objectionable hence indicating like since you yourself deleted scenes from teaser you failed.”
“…Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta: ‘If teaser is so offensive then what about the whole movie… Prima facie it seems you have failed since you yourself deleted the scenes from the teaser.’”
Further, Supreme Court finally directed that Bombay High Court should expedite its decision on this case in which a petition was filed challenging CBFC’s certification as well as release of Hamare Baarah. Implicitly, it means that high court will take another look at such film and check whether what is contained in it falls within the guidelines and religious sensitivities.
Hamare Baarah controversy has two main roots. The first root accuses the film of stereotyping Muslim women as being voiceless. It also raises questions on how fair and accurate is Indian cinema while representing religious communities. Secondly, there are concerns regarding portrayal of religious texts without adequate knowledge; for instance, misinterpretation of a verse from Quran can lead to tension in society or even worse provoke conflict between different religious groups.
Hamare Baarah set in Uttar Pradesh stars Annu Kapoor, Manoj Joshi and Paritosh Tripathi examines the implications of population growth upon societal, economic and cultural aspects.
Ravi S Gupta Birender Bhagat Sanjay Nagpal Sheo Balak Singh (Joint Production) Trilok Nath Prasad (Co-producer), Kamal Chandra (Director), Ajendra Ajay (Creative Director) produced this movie by writing screenplay with Rajan Agarwal
