MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras HC on Wednesday refused to grant any interim direction against the screening of the film, ‘Desiya Thalaivar’, a biopic of freedom fighter Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar, slated to be released on October 30.
A bench of justices Anita Sumanth and C Kumarappan adjourned two PILs filed to cancel the censorship certificate (‘U’) granted to the film, after noting that the producer and director of the film were yet to be served a notice over the petitions.
The judges added that the court cannot stop the screening merely based on the petitioners’ assumptions when there is no material placed to support it. They adjourned the cases to next week.
One of the litigants M Chakkaravarthy, president of Devendrar Panpattu Kazhagam of Ramanathapuram, alleged that the film contains scenes degrading other communities and their leaders and could lead to communal violence. Another litigant, advocate C Selvakumar of Madurai, who made similar allegations, sought direction to form a special committee under a retired high court judge to review the film.
