You can't denigrate section of society by such title: Supreme Court raps Neeraj Pandey on 'Ghooskhor Pandat'

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday reproached filmmaker Neeraj Pandey for his film 'Ghooskhor Pandat', saying "You cannot denigrate a section of society by using such a title".

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan asked him to come out with some other title as it was hearing a plea seeking a stay on the release of the Manoj Bajpayee-starrer film on OTT platform Netflix.

The bench said, the court cannot permit any section of society to be denigrated by the title of this film and other offensive material.

“Why should you denigrate anybody? It is against morality and public order. Being woke is one thing, but creating this kind of unrest when there is already unrest in the country.... We thought filmmakers, journalists, etc, are all responsible people and are aware of exceptions and reasonable restrictions of Article 19 (1) (a) (freedom of speech and expression)," the bench said.

The bench asked the film producer to tell as what names he was suggesting for the title change.

"No section of society should be denigrated. For as long as the late 40s, the framers of the Constitution were aware of the multitude of races, castes, etc. So they introduced concept or fraternity. If you use your freedom to denigrate any section of society, we can’t permit it,” the bench observed.

The court issued notices to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Central Board for Film Certification and Pandey on the plea against the movie.

Taking up the PIL filed by Atul Mishra, National Organisation Secretary of the Brahman Samaj of India, bench asked, "Why should you denigrate a section of society by using such a title. This is against morality and public order. We will not allow you to release the film unless you tell us the changed title."

The court directed Pandey to file an affidavit that the film 'Ghooskhor Pandat' doesn't denigrate any section of society.

The matter would be heard again on February 19.

The plea alleged that the movie promotes caste and religion-based stereotyping and threatens public order, communal harmony, and constitutional values.

'Ghooskhor Pandat', produced by Pandey, was announced by Netflix at an event in Mumbai recently. The film stars Manoj Bajpayee, along with Nushrat Bharuccha, Saqib Saleem, Akshay Oberoi, and Divya Dutta.

The plea alleged that the movie title and storyline are prima facie offensive and derogatory, which portray the Brahmin community in a defamatory manner.

It objected to the use of the word “Pandat”, a caste and religion-identifying title, alongside “Ghooskhor”, which denotes bribery and moral corruption.