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During the brief hearing, the court of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said that there is no provision for review in the Cinematograph Act and the prayer cannot be accepted.
The lawyer argued that he was not against the screening of the film but was seeking to insert a disclaimer that the content was not definitive history.
“Are we a super censor board?… You want a disclaimer that it is not history. Tell me, in any fictional work, does the author put a disclaimer that it is not history? “Even for history, two historians may have different views, but which historian’s view is correct, is it for us to decide? What standards are available to us to decide this?” the bench asked.
It said the petitioners did not do proper research before filing the petition, and said it would be more appropriate for them to approach the government.
The bench said that actor Paresh Rawal should not have been made a party to the petition.
The court said, “Why have you made the actor (Paresh Rawal) a party? If tomorrow you file a contempt (petition), will you make the lawyer a party? He (Rawal) is a professional actor, he is not responsible for the content.”
“The petitioners pray for withdrawal of the petition at this juncture to put pressure on the government,” it said.
The petition also sought to direct the makers of the film to “conspicuously display, in all publicity and credits, a prominent disclaimer stating that the film deals with a disputed narrative and does not claim to be a definitive historical account”.
It sought instructions to all state agencies to ensure that no communal incident arises from the incident.
The PIL alleged that the film was based on fabricated facts with a special promotion by the casting/production/direction/writer to gain political influence and was a move to create communal disturbance among different communities in India, which, it was claimed, was a serious violation of public interest.
Presented by Swarnim Global Services Pvt Ltd, the film is directed by Tushar Amrish Goyal and produced by CA Suresh Jha.
Although the exact story of the film is unclear, the makers had earlier said in a statement that the film raises “the questions and mysteries buried behind the 22 sealed doors of the Taj Mahal”.
The producers claimed that the film also “promises to present a chapter of Indian history that no one has ever dared to present before”.
Earlier this month, the first poster of the film had courted controversy when it showed Rawal’s character removing the dome of the Taj Mahal and a statue of Lord Shiva coming out of it.