Kangana Ranaut reacts to Bombay HC ‘blasting CBFC’ for withholding certificate for Emergency

Emergency was scheduled to release on September 6. It will now be pushed back by two weeks.

Actor-politician Kangana Ranaut has reacted after the Bombay High Court's order on the delay in clearance of her upcoming film Emergency by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). Taking to X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, Kangana shared a tweet by Live Law. (Also Read | Vivek Agnihotri says ‘cowards only censor what exposes their ugly face’ amid Emergency CBFC clearance delay)

Kangana Ranaut's debut directorial Emergency was scheduled to release on September 6.

Kangana reacts to BHC order

She wrote, "High court has blasted censor for illegally withholding the certificate of #emergency." As per the news agency PTI, the court refused to pass any order in the wake of a directive by the Madhya Pradesh HC directing CBFC to consider objections to the movie before certifying it.

What happened with Emergency?

The film was scheduled to release on September 6 but will now be pushed back by two weeks as the high court directed the censor board to consider the objections raised against the film and then certify it by September 18. The film’s producer Zee Entertainment Enterprises had moved the Bombay HC seeking a direction to the CBFC to issue certificate for the biopic Emergency.

What did BHC say?

A division bench of Justices B P Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla on Wednesday accepted the producer’s contention that the certificate was kept ready but not issued.

The bench said once the certificate was issued online to the makers of the film, the CBFC's contention that the certificate was not issued as it was not signed by the chairperson is incorrect. The court, however, noted it would have directed the CBFC to issue the certificate on Wednesday itself had there not been an order from the Madhya Pradesh HC.

During the hearing of the petition filed by Zee Entertainment, the Bombay HC on Wednesday said that while it was with the petitioner on the issue it cannot grant any relief in the wake of the order passed by the Madhya Pradesh HC.

Scheduled for release on September 6, the biographical drama is helmed by Kangana. It is caught in a controversy after Sikh organisations, including the Shiromani Akali Dal, objected, accusing it of misrepresenting the community and getting historical facts wrong.