MUMBAI: The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) on Thursday told the Bombay high court that it had denied certification to ‘Ajey: The Untold Story of a Yogi’, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s alleged biopic. The court responded by asking the CBFC to explain what they found objectionable so that the film can be edited accordingly.
The court’s order directed the CBFC’s revisional committee to inform the filmmakers about the objectionable scenes or dialogues by August 11 and the CBFC to decide on certification by August 13. The division bench of justices Revati Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale told the CBFC, “You need to give them details of what you find so objectionable in the movie so that they can make changes.”
The CBCF said that after the movie was screened on Wednesday, they found some scenes and dialogues to be derogatory in nature. Advocate AS Khandeparkar, representing the CBFC, added that although the movie claims it is a work of fiction, it is actually a biopic of an incumbent chief minister and follows the timeline and events of his life.
Khandeparkar said that despite the movie being based on Shantanu Gupta’s 2017 biography of Adityanath called ‘The Monk Who Became Chief Minister’, the movie would have a larger impact because of the depiction of dialogues and scenes. “The scenes degrading women are not properly presented and the dialogues are somewhat defamatory,” he said and added that the CBFC’s decision came after a detailed discussion about all aspects of the movie.
After CBFC’s decision, the film’s producers Samrat Cinematics India Pvt Ltd filed a petition challenging the refusal to certify the film. The petitioners told the court that they had first applied for certification on June 5. Under the Cinematograph Act, 1952 and the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 2024, the board must process such applications within a week and schedule a screening within the next 15 days. The petitioners said that more than a month had passed without any communication from the CBFC.
Advocate Aseem Naphade, representing the filmmakers, said that the reasons behind the rejection were unclear. “Under the certification rule, the CBFC has the power to give directions for modifications,” he said, asking the board to inform the filmmakers about problematic scenes. “I will go to the revising committee. Let them expedite the process of certification”, Naphade added.
Naphade told the court that the CBFC’s CEO had asked the filmmakers to meet Adityanath and get a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from him. The CBFC allegedly claimed it would then certify their film. The bench has directed the filmmakers to meet the revision committee by August 8.
The court directed the CBCF to give proper reasoning within ten days, and said that as per the rules the board had to inform the filmmakers of the reasons, the scenes and the dialogues which are objectionable. Noting that the board had failed to do so, the court said, “Over 500 people are a part of this film and their livelihood depends on this. There are so many films on constitutional authorities. Do you call these reasons? Show us the guidelines.”