HC refuses to ban release of Bhansali's movie 'Ramleela'

Hurdles created for the screening of Bollywood film "Ramleela" were today cleared with the Delhi High Court refusing to ban its release on the ground that sex, violence and vulgarity in the movie will hurt religious sentiments and feelings of Hindus.

The court also imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on NGO Rashtravadi Shiv Sena, which contended that the Sanjay Leela Bhansali-directed film starring Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone has no artistic relevance.

A division bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Manmohan dismissed the PIL filed through the NGO's president Jai Bhagwan Goyal in which he raised objection to the title of the film on the name of Lord Rama.

"You want us to pass an order that nobody should be named as Ram," the bench said while rejecting the PIL and asked the NGO to deposit the cost with Delhi Legal Services Authority.

The NGO contended that "Ramleela", which is scheduled for release on November 15, has nothing to do with the mythology and its misleading title should be changed.

"The film title is misleading and it has no artistic relevance. The character in the movie has nothing to do with the mythology," the petition said.

It said, "The title 'Ramleela' which is understood by Hindus as enactment of the life and story of Lord Ram (Maryada Purshottam), is nowhere doing the same but on the contrary the said film is portraying sex, violence and vulgarity etc, which is deeply hurting the religious sentiments and feelings of Hindus."

"The enactment, production and scheduled release of the film 'Ramleela' is a gross insult to the religious feelings of Hindus," the plea said, adding objection is only in respect of naming such a film as "Ramleela".

"The petitioner (NGO) is echoing the sentiments of Hindus at large and people of other religion, who feel insulted and humiliated to see a film being released by the name of 'Ramleela' which has got nothing to do with the life of Lord Rama...," it also said.