Court restrains release of controversial movie Mohalla Assi

The release of Bollywood film 'Mohalla Assi' has been halted throughout the country by a Delhi court which today prima facie found it hurting religious sentiments and said it should not hit the theatres till allegedly offending scenes and dialogues are removed.

The court restrained the movie's director, producer and Central Board of Film Certificate from releasing the film on July three till further orders. The film stars Sunny Deol, Ravi Kishan, Sakshi Tanwar among others.

Noting that the trailer showed the movie to be based on the surroundings of the Assi Ghat in Varanasi on the banks of river Ganga, the court said "in the entire trailer clip, characters have been shown using very filthy language.

"In one scene, a character dressed as Lord Shiva is shown using filthy language. Use of such language by Lord Shiva makeover is really hurting. It may (hurt) religious sentiments of the people in case the movie is released and seen by public at large."

"Therefore, at this stage, a prima facie case is made out that until the religiously hurting scenes and dialogues/words wherein the abusive and filthy language has been used, are removed, the movie should not be released," Civil Judge Kishor Kumar said.

The court passed an ex-parte ad-interim injunction order against the CBFC, the producer and director of the film and others saying they are "restrained from releasing the movie 'Mohalla Assi' all over India, scheduled to be released on July 3, 2015 till further orders".