The Election Commission has ordered that the trailers of a Mamata Banerjee’s biopic should be removed from four online platforms. The EC has initiated steps to ensure that the trailers are removed after the chief electoral officer of West Bengal submitted a report on the biopic, which is titled Baghini: Bengal Tigress.
According to the EC, the film violates the directives issued by them. On April 10, EC had issued an order stating “any biopic material in the nature of biography/hagiography subserving the purposes of any political party or any individual entity connected to it, which is intended to, or which has the potential to disturb the level playing field during the elections, should not be displayed in electronic media including cinematograph during the operation of model code of conduct”.
According to the producer, the Bengali film titled Baghini: Bengal Tigress is to release on May 3. But the Election Commission has found that the film is yet to receive a certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification. The Commission has received a report on this and would be examining it.
This decision comes after the Vice President of BJPs West Bengal unit, Joy Prakash Majumdar, had written a letter of complaint to the EC stating that the biopic must be reviewed as it was done in case of PM Modi’s biopic. EC has taken action against two biopics on PM Modi, one is a movie and the other is a TV series.
Many political rivals of the TMC including the CPI(M) have called for a ban on the film. One of the leaders has been quoted saying that they are hopeful that the EC would remove the trailer of the film after having taken action on PM Modi’s biopic.
This election season, the Election Commission has taken action on various mediums of mass expression including stalling Vivek Oberoi’s biopic on PM Modi, issuing show cause notice on JNU’s ABVP for a book launch, issued an order against TV serials for praising government schemes and had also issued another notice to a citizen who had printed “No gifts, please vote for PM Modi” on wedding invitation cards. According to EC, 574 Facebook posts, 49 tweets, two Youtube videos and three WhatsApp messages have been deleted on the orders of the poll panel for violation of rules.