The makers of Kangana Ranaut starrte ‘Emergency’ informed the Bombay High Court that they have “worked out” the issues with regards to the changes / cuts to the film as suggested by the censor board and would require two weeks to comply with the same.
Counsel for co-producer Zee Entertainment Limited, Sharan Jagtiani, told the court that the necessary cuts would be made and the film would be submitted to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for issuance of its certificate. “We have worked it out,” Jagtiani told a bench of Justices BP Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla.
CBFC counsel Abhinav Chandrachud said once the film is submitted, after the cuts, the same would be verified and a certificate would be issued in two weeks.
The court accepted the statement and disposed of the petition filed by Zee. “According to the consent of the parties, the petition is disposed off. Needless to say, the court, while disposing of the petition, has not gone into the merits of the petition. Any observations made in earlier orders are only treated to be prima facie,” the bench said.
The movie was initially slated for a September 6 release. However, it got stalled following non-issuance of certification by the CBFC. The censor board withheld the certification following opposition by Sikh organisations, including the Shiromani Akali Dal, accusing it of misrepresenting the community and getting historical facts wrong.
Zee then approached the HC seeking direction to the CBFC to issue the certification. Ranaut, who also plays the lead role of late prime minister Indira Gandhi in the movie, had accused the CBFC of stalling the movie’s certification to delay its release. Zee had also alleged that the certificate was being withheld for political reasons and due to the upcoming elections in Haryana.
However, the bench had then wondered as to why the ruling party (BJP) would act against Ranaut, who was herself a BJP MP.
Last month, the CBFC had said that the movie could be released if the makers carry out certain cuts as asked by the board’s revising committee. Earlier this week, CBFC informed the bench that Ranaut’s company, Manikarnika, which is also co-producer of the movie, had agreed to the cuts.
