What Got ‘Jolly LLB2’ in Trouble With the Bombay HC?

The Bombay High Court’s Aurangabad Bench ordered deletion of four scenes from the upcoming film ‘Jolly LLB 2’.

Akshay Kumar in a still from Jolly LLB 2. (Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

The Bombay High Court’s Aurangabad Bench on Monday ordered deletion of four scenes from the upcoming film Jolly LLB 2, which it held are defamatory to the judiciary and could amount to contempt of court, an official said.

A Division Bench of Justice SS Shinde and Justice KK Sonawane also ordered the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to certify the film afresh after implementing the cuts in the Akshay Kumar starrer.

The order follows a report by a court-appointed three-member committee of experts, comprising Senior Advocates RN Dhorde and VJ Dixit and medico Dr Prakash Kanade, petitioner-lawyer Ajaykumar Waghmare said from Nanded.

The committee viewed the film last Friday in Aurangabad and submitted its two-page report stating that a particular scene is "defamatory to the lawyers' profession and would be contempt of court".

While the film’s producers, Fox Star Studios, had challenged the 27 January ruling of the Bombay High Court to appoint the three-member before the Supreme Court have now withdrawn the plea.

A report in India Today highlights the different scenes which have been cut from the film by the three-member committee. Here’s what the report says:

The report was submitted on 5 February by the committee. The report states, “After the entire film was viewed by us, we found following scenes which according to us is objectionable.”

1. The screen shot that depicts the male protagonist approaching the dias and returning from the dias after dialogue with the learned judge and immediately thereafter the male protagonist signalling to his client as a result of which the client commits further act of throwing the shoe at the judge. (sic)

2. Subsequently in the dialogue between two lawyers, namely the male protagonist and his male colleague where it is said that, "Kya akkal lagaai hai," indicates that this act was pre-planned and lawyer signalling to commit the act according to us is defamatory to the lawyers' profession and would be contempt of court. (sic)

According to us, the said visuals or words involves defamation of body of lawyers as the said scene according to us tend to disgrace or undermine the dignity of lawyers and courts, in view of the section 5B of the cinematography act 1956 and guideline 2 (18) for certification of films of exhibition.

The lawyers representing the filmmakers agreed to the necessary cuts/modifications.

In view of the imminent release of the film Jolly LLB 2 and steps undertaken in relation thereto, we offer the following statement without prejudice to the objections raised by the film producers on 30th January with regards to the jurisdiction, constitution and appointment of a committee particularly when the film has been duly certified by the statutory authority that is the CBFC.

Statement by Filmmakers’ lawyers

The director of Jolly LLB 2 also said, “Without admitting and whilst denying the petitioners' case and contents of the committee's report dated February 5 on the basis that only the four objections noted in the amicus curiae report dated February 5 will be considered by the honorable court.”

According to the report in India Today, here are the scenes which are being altered in the film:

Dias Scene: The jumping on and off the dias will be removed; however, the dialogue conversation between the protagonist and the judge will be retained.

Signalling: This will be deleted

Shoe scene: The modified scene will now depict the disgruntled litigant venting his frustration. However, the same shall not be shown as being thrown directly on the judge and / or landing on the judge's table.

Dialogue: "Kya akal lagaai hai": Such a dialogue does not and will not form part of the film.

They added that the visual or words also involved "defamation of the body of lawyers and undermines the dignity of lawyers and courts".

After taking the report on record, the judges ordered that the scenes objected to by the committee should be deleted and that the CBFC should re-certify the film, Waghmare said.

This is a historic and significant order concerning any film in the country. It is also a lesson to the CBFC which certified the film during the pendency of the PIL, indicating some malpractices.

Ajaykumar Waghmare

The Supreme Court on Friday had refused to put on hold the screening of Jolly LLB 2 before the three-member panel and allowed the committee to preview the film and ascertain whether the said scenes denigrated the judiciary in any manner.

Slated for release on February 10, Jolly LLB 2 is a courtroom drama starring Akshay Kumar, Huma Qureshi, Annu Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla, and is written and directed by Subhash Kapoor.

(With inputs from IANS, India Today)