Supreme Court Stays Release of Annu Kapoor’s “Hamare Baarah”

The Supreme Court of India has stayed the release of the upcoming film “Hamare Baarah,” starring Annu Kapoor, which was scheduled to release on Friday. The decision came after a petition argued that the film contained content derogatory to the Islamic faith.

According to Bar and Bench, the Supreme Court directed the Bombay High Court to expedite its decision on the petition, which challenged the Bombay High Court’s refusal to halt the film’s release. The apex court’s ruling was influenced by its viewing of the film’s teaser, which it found to still contain objectionable material despite the filmmakers’ claims of compliance with previous orders to remove such scenes.

“We saw the teaser today morning and all scenes are there,” the Supreme Court noted, dismissing the filmmakers’ assertion that they had edited the promotional content to remove offensive scenes as per the Bombay High Court’s directive. The Supreme Court further commented, “If the teaser is so offensive then what about the whole movie… Prima facie it seems you have failed since you yourself deleted the scenes from the teaser.”

Earlier, the Bombay High Court had been approached with the allegation that “Hamare Baarah” misrepresented a verse from the Quran and portrayed Muslims in a negative light. The High Court initially restrained the film’s release until June 14 and instructed the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to form a panel to review the film. Following the panel’s feedback, the High Court permitted the release of the film on the condition that specific dialogues be removed.

However, the panel requested additional time to provide comprehensive comments on the film, which the High Court denied, leading to the current legal impasse.

The filmmakers’ counsel argued before the Supreme Court that halting the release would result in significant financial losses, but this argument was insufficient to sway the court’s decision.

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