New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to stay the release of Hansal Mehta's film 'Faraaz', which is scheduled to release in theatres on Friday. Since the film is based on a 2016 terrorist attack in Dhaka, the court made it clear to the makers that they shall scrupulously adhere to a disclaimer that says the film is inspired by the attack and the elements contained in it are purely a work of fiction.
The mothers of two victims of the Holey Artisan terrorist attack in Dhaka (Bangladesh) had objected to the release of the film on the ground of invasion of privacy. A division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh granted time to the appellants' counsel to obtain further instructions in the matter and listed it for hearing on February 22.
The court observed that the counsel for the filmmakers has categorically stated that pictures or images relating to the appellants' daughters do not feature in the movie. As the appellants' counsel sought the court's direction to the filmmakers to shorten the disclaimer, the division bench said it was in full agreement with the view of a single-judge bench on the long disclaimer.
The court, on January 24, had issued notice and directed the director and producers of the movie to file a reply on a plea. The same bench had said that the reply should be filed in five days. During the last hearing, appearing for the mothers, senior advocate Akhil Sibal informed the court that filmmaker Mehta and the producers have denied them permission to watch the movie before the release.
"They have denied it completely," he had said. Sibal had contended that they had asked the filmmakers to change the movie name but they did not agree. "We have no idea what names have been used in the film. In 2021, they had assured us that the name of the two girl victims will not be taken," he had added. To this, the court had asked how was this related to the movie's name. Sibal had said that it is the name of a person who was a victim of the attack.
