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'Have a thick skin. It is fiction': SC junks plea to ban 'Yadav Ji Ki Love Story' film
“Is a Hindu girl marrying a Muslim boy destroying the national fabric?” the court asked pointedly during the hearing.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition seeking a ban on the yet-to-be released film ‘Yadav Ji Ki Love Story’, rejecting the contention that its title maligns the Yadav community.
A bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan was hearing a plea filed by the chief of the Vishwa Yadav Parishad, who argued that the film’s title creates an offensive stereotype and that its storyline, which reportedly depicts a Hindu girl from the Yadav community falling in love with a Muslim man, would harm the community’s image.
The bench, however, was unconvinced. “Is a Hindu girl marrying a Muslim boy destroying the national fabric?” the court asked during the hearing.
Dismissing the apprehensions as “wholly unfounded”, the bench said there was nothing in the title that cast the Yadav community in a negative light.
“We have perused the material on record. The main grievance is that the name of the forthcoming film reflects the Yadav community in bad light in society. Therefore, the contention is that the name of the film must be changed. We fail to understand as to how the title of a film can reflect the community in bad light. The title nowhere has any adjective or word that portrays the Yadav community negatively. The apprehensions are wholly unfounded,” the court order stated.
The court also distinguished the present case from its recent order concerning the title of a Netflix film earlier named “Ghooskhor Pandat”. In that matter, the word “ghooskhor”, meaning “corrupt”, was seen as attaching a negative connotation to a community. On February 19, the proceedings were closed in that matter after the filmmaker agreed to change the title.
“We would like to distinguish our order in ‘Ghooskhor Pandat’. The expression ‘ghooskhor’ in English means corrupt. Therefore, a negative meaning was being attached to the community. In the present case, no such negativity is attached to the Yadav community. Neither of the reasonable restrictions under Article 19(2) are attracted. The name in no way portrays the Yadav community in bad light or in a negative manner. The writ petition is accordingly dismissed,” the court held.
When the petitioner’s counsel argued that the film claims to be based on a real story and cited past objections to the portrayal of the Gujjar community in the film Bandit Queen, the bench responded that similar concerns had been rejected earlier as well.
Noting that the film has not yet been released, the bench declined to entertain speculative grievances. When counsel sought liberty to approach the court if the film caused offence after release, it remarked: “Have a thick skin. It is fiction. In one week, it will all be over. No one is going to theatres these days. Everyone is watching on the phone.”
