NEW DELHI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises, co-producer of Kangana Ranaut's upcoming film "Emergency" on Wednesday filed a petition in
Bombay high court
to seeking a direction to the Central Board of Film Certification to issue the film's certificate.
The petition claimed that the censor board has arbitrarily and illegally withheld the
censor certificate
of the film.
As per a lawyer, the petition claimed that the Censor board was ready with the certificate, but not issuing it. The plea was mentioned before a division bench of Justices B P Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla for urgent hearing.
The bench agreed to hear it on Wednesday. Ranaut, who has directed and co-produced the film besides playing the lead role of former prime minister late Indira Gandhi, on Monday accused the
CBFC
of stalling certification to delay the release.
Scheduled for release on September 6, the biographical drama is caught up in controversy after Sikh organisations including the Shiromani Akali Dal objected, accusing it of misrepresenting the community and getting historical facts wrong.
Kangana took to Twitter to express her frustration. She stated that despite rumors claiming the film had received its censor certificate, the certification process had been halted due to threats received by CBFC members. She alleged that there was pressure not to depict certain historical events and figures, such as the assassination of Indira Gandhi and the Punjab riots.
The controversy began after the trailer for Emergency was released, which featured Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a controversial figure in the Khalistan movement. This portrayal led to legal action from the Delhi unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal and strong reactions from Sikh organizations like the Akal Takht and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).
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