HC notice to censor board on PIL over 'Merlin' film dialogue 'insulting' women

Pic Courtesy: Movie Still

Chennai: The Madras High Court has issued a notice to the censor board on a PIL seeking removal of a scene, which allegedly denigrates women, from a recently released Tamil film.

A bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose issued a notice to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and JSB Film Studio, the producer of the film "Merlin" which released on February 23.

The bench posted the PIL to March 16 for further hearing. Praveena Charumathi Sampathkumar, in her public interest litigation, contended that a dialogue in the scene insulted women and sought a direction to the CBFC for removing it.

The woman said she was shocked to find such a dialogue in the 'U' certificate film, written and directed by Keera, adding that it amounted to showing disrespect to women. Her counsel submitted that the Cinematography Act has laid down elaborate guidelines under which women characters in any form should not be degraded and denigrated.