On Tuesday (16th January), the Kerala High Court heard a plea raising objection over a scene in the film “Antony” showing a gun kept inside a Bible. Petitioner Joji Verghese challenged the release of the Malayalam film contending that such a scene hurts the religious sentiments of the Christian community.
A single-judge bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran heard the plea and made some strong observations about religion and tolerance. The Court stated orally that people should not be so intolerant. It noted that these types of scenes were featured in Hollywood films as early as the 1960s and 1970s. Further, the Kerala High Court judge said that whatever holy text is in the scene, some or the other section would be unhappy or offended.
“Should we be so intolerant that even for a passing reference to a book you should take up objection? Even if it is a Bible, doesn’t there need to be a negative reference or connotation for you to object? Bible is used to hide a gun so Christians are unhappy. If it is Gita, Hindus will become unhappy. If it is the Quran, Muslims will be unhappy,” Justice Ramachandran said.
The Court inquired about how the book could be said to be the Bible since it was only a fleeting shot. It stated that experts censored the film before being distributed on multiple platforms.
“How do you know this is the Bible? …The statement states it was as a fleeting moment…it was such brief that it could not be registered in the mind of the viewer…”
The bench, however, agreed to watch the allegedly objectionable part from the film “Antony”. “if you want you can produce the video, I will see…the petitioner seeks additional time to produce additional evidence”, the single-judge bench noted.
The court also stated that such petitions would only benefit movie producers who could use negative or positive publicity to broaden the reach of their film. The matter will be heard again in two weeks.
The story of the film revolves around Antony’s life, his encounters with other gangsters, and what occurs when Kalyani Priyadarshan’s character, Ann Maria, enters his life and he is forced to become her guardian following her mother’s death.
