Case against scribes who watched Padmavati film

Lucknow: A UP lawyer has filed a petition in the Lucknow district court against three senior journalists who watched Padmavati even before it was certified by the Central Board of Film Certification. The lawyer, Ashok Pandey, claimed that this was a clear violation of Section 7 (1) of the Cinematography Act.

The judicial magistrate has fixed November 24 as the date of hearing in the matter.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali , the director of Padmavati, had held a screening of his film for three journalists, Arnab Goswani, Rajat Sharma and Ved Pratap Vaidik and the three scribes later defended the film in various TV shows.

It is noteworthy that Censor Board chief Prasoon Joshi had earlier criticized the makers of the film for getting the film reviewed even before screening it for Censor Board.

“It is disappointing that ‘Padmavati’ is being screened for media and getting reviewed on national channels without the CBFC having seen or certified the film. This compromises the role of systems and balances that are part of a functioning industry”, Mr Joshi was quoted as having said.

Talking to this correspondent, Mr Ashok Pandey said that the film was not screened in the country because it hurts Hindu sentiments but the filmmaker is trying to manipulate sentiments by getting the media over to his side with such tactics.