NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea seeking a ban on the yet-to-be-released film ‘Yadav Ji Ki Love Story’, rejecting the allegation that its title is offensive to the Yadav community.
A bench of Justices B V Nagaratna and Ujjal Bhuyan was hearing a petition filed by the chief justice of the Vishwa Yadav Parishad, who said the title of the film creates an offensive stereotype and that its story, which reportedly depicts a Hindu girl from the Yadav community who falls in love with a Muslim man, would harm the image of the community.
But the bench was not convinced. “Does the marriage of a Hindu girl to a Muslim boy destroy the national fabric?” The court asked during the hearing.
The council dismissed the concerns as “completely unfounded” and said there was nothing in the title that cast a negative light on the Yadav community.
“We have gone through the material on record. The main grievance is that the name of the upcoming film reflects the Yadav community in a bad light in the society. Therefore, the contention is that the name of the film should be changed. We have failed to understand how the title of the film can reflect the community in a bad light. The title nowhere contains any adjective or word that depicts the Yadav community in a negative light. These apprehensions are completely baseless,” the court order said.
The court also distinguished the present case from its recent order relating to the title of a Netflix film previously called ‘Ghooskhor Pandat’. In this regard, the word “goskhor”, which means “corrupt”, was seen as giving a negative connotation to society. On February 19, the proceedings in this regard were closed after the director agreed to change the title.
“We would like to characterize our system in ‘Ghooskhor Pandat’. The expression ‘ghooskhor’ in English means corrupt. Therefore, a negative meaning has been attached to the community. In the present case, no such negativity has been attached to the Yadav community. None of the reasonable restrictions under Section 19(2) have been attracted. The name in no way portrays the Yadav community in a bad light or in a negative manner. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed,” it said.
When the petitioner’s counsel argued that the film claims to be based on a true story and cited earlier objections to the depiction of the Gujjar community in the film Bandit Queen, the bench replied that similar concerns had been dismissed earlier as well.
Noting that the film is yet to be released, the crew refused to look into the speculative grievances. When the lawyer asked for freedom to go to court if the film caused a crime after its release, he said: “Be thick. It’s a fantasy. In one week, it will all be over. No one goes to theaters these days. Everyone watches on the phone.”
