'Do you consider people brainless?' Allahabad HC clams 'Adipurush' makers

The court directed that the film's co-writer Manoj Muntashir Shukla be made a party in the case and issued a notice asking him to respond within a week.

The court made the directions while hearing a petition demanding a ban on 'Adipurush', which claims to be a mythological action film based on the Hindu epic Ramayana.

"The nature of dialogues in the film is a big issue. Ramayana is a paragon for us. People read Ramcharitmanas before leaving home," it said, adding that films shouldn't touch certain things.

Regarding the argument of the respondents that a disclaimer had been added to the film, the bench said, "Do the people who put the disclaimer consider the countrymen, and youth, to be brainless? You show Lord Rama, Lord Laxman, Lord Hanuman, Ravana, Lanka and then say it is not Ramayana?"

"We saw it on the news that people went to the theatres and got the film shut down. Be thankful nobody vandalised it," the court added.

The Allahabad High Court questioned whether the censor board fulfilled its responsibility.

"It's good that people did not harm the law and order situation after watching the film. Lord Hanuman and Sita have been shown like they are nothing. These things should have been removed from the very beginning. Some scenes seem to be of the "A" (adult) category. It's very difficult to watch such films," the court observed.

Terming it a "very serious matter",  the court also questioned what the censor board did about it.

The Deputy Solicitor General informed the court that all objectionable dialogues have been removed from the film, to which the court asked the Deputy SG to ask the censor board what it has been doing.

"That alone won't work. What will you do with the scenes? Seek instructions, then we will definitely do whatever we want to do... In case the exhibition of the film is stopped, then the people whose feelings have been hurt will get relief," the court said.

The court will continue to hear the matter on Wednesday.