Filmmaker Neeraj Pandey withdraws title & trailer of 'Ghooskhor Pandat' movie, Supreme Court told

New Delhi: Filmmaker Neeraj Pandey on Thursday told the Supreme Court that he has withdrawn the title of his movie 'Ghooskhor Pandat', which has kicked off a row for denigrating a particular community.

Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, representing Pandey, informed a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan that he has completely withdrawn the title and that it would not be used in any manner.

The court disposed of a plea seeking stay on the release of the movie, giving a quietus to the controversy.

The bench, however, said that nobody should be oversensitive, when a counsel raised an issue regarding the film's content and argued that the new title should not resemble the withdrawn title.

Kaul, for his part, said that the intent was not against any community. There was no intent to defame any community or hurt religious sentiments, he said.

"The protagonist’s nickname was Pandat, and the movie is about a bad cop becoming a good cop. The storyline has nothing to do with a community," the counsel said.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that they have not decided a new title so far.

"We understand the words 'panditya' and 'pandat'; there is some correlation, but to have panditya and pandat with Ghooskhor...,” the bench said.

The petitioner’s counsel said the court should direct that the film's title should be withdrawn and contain no related content.

Kaul said the title 'Ghooskhor Pandat’ is unequivocally withdrawn and would not be used in any manner whatsoever, while the new title has not been finalised.

Petitioner’s counsel said that the new title should not be similar to the one that was withdrawn. A counsel asked, “How can they have a title which is not linked to the content of the film?"

The bench said the producer has withdrawn the trailer of the film. "This will open Pandora’s box. Nobody should be over sensitive,” the bench said, by asking the counsel, raising their grievances with the content, "Have you seen the film?"

Kaul urged the court to put a quietus to the matter, claiming that someone was filing an FIR somewhere and someone a case elsewhere.

Having taken note of Pandey's affidavit pursuant to its previous order, and an unequivocal withdrawal of the title of the film, the court said, the cause no longer survived.

“Any future name given to the film should not be evocative of what is already expressed against,” the bench cautioned.

In its order, the bench said, “We find that Pandey has positively responded to the grievances ventilated by the petitioner before this court and has, in quick response, realised as to what may be the future consequences, if there is any kind of an adamant attitude on the part of Pandey. We find that the stand taken by Pandey is appropriate, having regard to facts and circumstances of this case."

The court said, it is expected there should be a quietus to this controversy in all respects.

Hearing a PIL filed by Atul Mishra, National Organisation Secretary of the Brahman Samaj of India, the court had last week criticised Pandey and said he cannot denigrate a section of society by using such a title.

Seeking a stay on the release of the movie scheduled to stream on Netflix, the plea alleged that the movie title and storyline are prima facie offensive and derogatory, which portray the Brahmin community in a defamatory manner.