'Vyuham': Telangana High Court refuses to interfere with single judge order

Hyderabad : The Telangana High Court refused to interfere with a single-judge order suspending release of political thriller ‘Vyuham’ of filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma over alleged irregularities in granting Certification of Exhibition.

Producer Dasari Kiran Kumar had approached the High Court challenging the single judge order. His counsel submitted that the filmmaker has suffered loss of crores of rupees due to its release being suspended.

However, the court on Wednesday suggested to the petitioner’s counsel to submit the arguments before the single judge when he takes up further hearing of the case on January 11.

The film, which is allegedly defamatory towards former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, was scheduled to release on December 29.

Naidu’s son and TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh had approached the High Court, challenging the censor certificate for the movie.

On December 28, Justice Surepalli Nanda had suspended the release on the ground that the Revising Committee failed to state reasons for granting a Certificate of Exhibition when initially the application had been rejected noting a series of irregularities. The court said that no major deletions or the changes were made and the Revising Committee granted the certificate.

The court directed the Central Board of Film Certification, Revising Committee, and producer of the movie to place all records pertaining to the movie before the court on the next date of hearing.

The film is said to be about the conditions surrounding the passing of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and the political entry of his son Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is now the Chief Minister.

Lokesh had filed a petition in the Telangana High Court challenging certificate for theatrical release of the movie alleging attempts to spoil the image of Chandrababu Naidu in the controversial movie.

The TDP leader’s counsel had argued that the entire film contained defamatory remarks against Chandrababu Naidu. The film allegedly portrays Naidu as the antagonist and Jagan Mohan Reddy as the protagonist.