BENGALURU: Noting that the choice of a couple is not influenced by one movie to opt for a particular IVF centre for assisted pregnancy, the Karnataka High Court on Friday rejected the public interest litigation filed by a Mysuru-based philanthropist seeking directions to stop the screening of Hindi movie ‘Good Newwz’ starring Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor.
The petitioner Sameem Raza, a resident of Udayagiri in Mysuru, moved the court against the release of the movie on the grounds that it insists on a particular IVF centre for assisted pregnancy. On hearing the arguments of the counsel of the petitioner as well as the respondents, the division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Hemant Chandangoudar rejected the petition.
Before this, the court noted that the movie has already released on December 27. “We do not mean that the allegations made in the petition are correct and we do not think that the choice of the couple is not influenced by one movie which has short life,” the court said. The petitioner claimed that the trailer/promos virtually force and coax the patients to take service only with the Indira IVF Centers, and also indirectly declares that there is possibility of mixing or exchanging the sperms in the centers other than Indira IVF Centres. The same will undermine the dignity of other such centers.
The petitioner, who is also running a non-governmental organisation in Mysuru, contended that the concept of the movie and claim of the actors in the movie are definitely trying to create confusion in the mind of patients who have already taken the service of assisted pregnancy in the centers other than Indira IVF Centers. He also contended that the visuals and words involve defamation of other IVF centers in India. Therefore, the movie is against the guidelines of the Central Board of Film Certificate (CBFC), he claimed.