Screenings of Puneet Rajkumar-starrer Anjaniputra have been stayed by a Bengaluru city civil court. A lawyer moved court against the film citing the reason that there is an objectionable dialogue against the lawyer community.
Speaking to TV9, Narayanswamy, the complainant lawyer, clarified that a dialogue made by a police officer to a lawyer in the film was the reason for the complaint. “They (filmmakers) have insulted lawyers in the film. A dialogue made by a police to a lawyer shows the entire lawyer community in bad light. They should delete the dialogue and apologise,” he said.
He added that he was in talks with lawyers about filing a defamation case against the filmmakers.
“We are looking at ways we can file a defamation case. People watching the film are laughing at the dialogue, and it is not right,” added Narayanswamy.
He clarified that the court case was not against P Ravishankar, but against the director and producer of the film. The court order has stayed screenings of the film until January 2.
The complainant also slammed the censor board for allowing the screening of the film. “The censor board allowing the film to be screened when it is hurtful to some people is also not correct,” he said.
The film has obtained a certificate for screening from the Central Board for Film Certification, a central government agency that censors any objectionable content in films.
The calls for a stay order, however, aren't the first of its kind. In Tamil Nadu, BJP supporters objected to dialogues criticizing GST in the film Mersal, but unlike in the case of Anjaniputra, the Madras High Court refused to pass a stay order against the film as it had obtained clearance from the censor board.