Supreme Court Stalls Film’s Release, Asks To Change Title

Manoj Bajpayee’s latest OTT film, Ghooshkor Pandat, was grandly announced by Netflix recently, but the title of the series has rubbed people on the wrong way, with Sarva Brahman Mahasabha in Jaipur complaining about insulting Brahmins with the title. Passing a verdict on a PIL filed in the Supreme Court, today, the justice opined that denigrating anyone is not at all acceptable, as it is against public order and morality.

While Netflix has already taken down the trailer and other promotional content of the movie, the Supreme Court has today ordered the makers to find another title and file an affidavit regarding the title, and until then, the film/series cannot even be released in the country. Saying that the right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution is respected, the Court stated that the right is subject to restrictions. “Why should you denigrate a section of society by this kind of title?”, the Supreme Court asked.

Starring Manoj Bajpayee in the titular role, the OTT film is directed by acclaimed filmmaker Neeraj Pandey and set to stream on Netflix soon. After the criticism, Netflix has taken down the content, and it looks like now until the title change is officially announced and updated to Court, the film cannot hit the streaming website as well. Even though censorship is not there for OTT, if a film/series crosses limits, surely the courts would intervene, and this is a classic case.