Is Adipurush going to be banned? Allahabad High Court steps into the Ring!

The legal difficulties for the creators of the film Adipurush continue to grow amid widespread public outrage and now legal scrutiny. The Allahabad High Court in Uttar Pradesh, India, has taken the film’s makers to task over the controversial dialogues that have sparked a national outcry.

The court called co-writer Manoj Muntashir Shukla to become a party to the case and issued him a notice requiring a response within a week.

The court voiced its concerns during a hearing of a petition demanding a ban on Adipurush, a purportedly mythological action film based on the Hindu epic, Ramayana. The court expressed its concern about the controversial nature of the film, pointing out the importance of the Ramayana in people’s everyday life.

The court took issue with the actions of the censor board in this case. It asked for an explanation about the board’s measures regarding the film’s contentious content and scenes, despite reports that the questionable dialogues had been removed from the film. The court stated that just removing these parts would not be enough and hinted at possibly stopping the film’s screening to ease the offended parties.

The court also acknowledged that people had tried to close down the movie in theaters, but thankfully, there were no reports of any vandalism. The film, Adipurush, is a cinematic reinterpretation of the Hindu epic Ramayana. It features a star-studded cast, including Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan, Kriti Sanon, Sunny Singh, and Devdatta Nage, and was directed and co-written by Om Raut and Manoj Muntashir.

The movie’s release sparked significant debates and public anger due to some dialogues deemed inappropriate and offensive. The dialogues attributed to the character Hanuman in the Lanka dahan sequence, in particular, have stirred controversy and prompted conversations about their suitability in the film.

Co-writer Manoj Muntashir Shukla defended the film, stating that the controversial dialogues were intentionally included to create character divergences. He suggested that such lines have been used by famous Indian saints and storytellers in the past, stating that he didn’t invent these lines but that they were “already there”. Despite his explanations, the controversy surrounding the film shows no signs of abating.