Malayalam film Churuli has been in the middle of a controversy ever since it was released on an Over-the-Top platform recently. The Kerala High Court on December 9, Thursday, admitted a writ petition filed against the film for containing "abusive and obscene" dialogues.
The petition was filed by a lawyer who contended that this was done purposely to draw more attention.
The court while admitting the petition after hearing parts of it orally observed that the dialogues were "atrocious".
The film directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery was released on SonyLiv in November. While there has been criticism from several people, others have pointed out that the abuse in the film serves a purpose and is used to characterise the village of Churuli and how its people's behaviour changes when they enter it.
Soon after the film was released, came numerous critical remarks of the dialogues in the film and the petitioner wanted to know how the film was able to get through the CBFC. However, the CBFC said that the version released on the OTT platform was not the one that they'd certified. Films do not have to go through the CBFC for an OTT release.
The court after accepting the petition in its file asked notices to be served to all concerned.
The movie tells the tale of two undercover police officers who go in search of a criminal who is on the run and they get stuck in the village of Churuli.
The film stars Vinay Forrt, Chemban Vinod (who co-produced the film with the director) and Joju George.
(With IANS inputs)