Cinema VinesThe Supreme Court on Friday concluded proceedings on a group of petitions concerning the 2023 film The Kerala Story, while leaving the legal framework for challenging Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) certificates still unsettled. The court, led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, dismissed dozens of cases that had been filed during the COVID‑19 period or had become moot over time.
Two petitions that sought the cancellation of the CBFC’s certification of the film were declared infructuous by the bench, which also included Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana. A third petition filed by the film’s producers, Sunshine Pictures Pvt Ltd and Vipul Amritlal Shah, was withdrawn. The producers’ petition had challenged a West Bengal government decision to ban the film.
While the Supreme Court had earlier, in May 2023, stayed the state’s ban, the current ruling notes that the film’s release on May 5, 2023, renders the petitions irrelevant. Advocate Nizam Pasha, representing petitioners Qurban Ali and B R Aravindakshan, argued that the issues raised by his clients remained alive despite the film’s release. He highlighted that the Kerala High Court had dismissed a writ petition on the grounds that it was not maintainable against a CBFC certificate, and that only producers have a statutory remedy against CBFC certification. Pasha urged the court to issue guidelines for films that allegedly promote hate speech and to allow a general writ petition for such cases.
Justice Bagchi acknowledged that the question of law could be left open, stating that future litigation would need to wait for another controversial film before the court could address the issue. The bench therefore kept the legal question open, granting the parties the freedom to initiate appropriate proceedings in line with the law.
Overall, the Supreme Court’s decision ends the immediate petitions related to The Kerala Story but leaves the broader debate over CBFC certification challenges unresolved, setting the stage for future legal scrutiny of film content and certification processes.
