An SC bench said that if depiction of gods and goddesses is prevented, then movies on the Ramayana and Mahabharata would not be made at all
NEW DELHI: Rejecting a plea seeking a ban on release of an animated film on Mahaprabhu Jagannath, Supreme Court on Wednesday said artists must enjoy the liberty of creative expression, with courts not getting in the way of art and creativity.As Jagannath temple committee strongly opposed the release of the animation film, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and R Mahadevan said that if depiction of gods and goddesses is prevented, then movies on the Ramayana and Mahabharata would not be made and screened at all. It stressed that people ought to be tolerant of depiction of gods and goddesses.”If this is the kind of sensibility, sensitivity…we will pass an order that in respect of Hindu God, Goddess or Mythology, let there be no art form in India! We have Kabir’s Ramayana, Valmiki Ramayana, Skanda Ramayana, etc. We have Ramayana in every State. Every person has his own creativity. If we pass such an order, all Ramayana, Mahabharata on television will stop! No art in any form, television, creativity, painting, sculpture of Hindu God or Goddess…” Supreme Court said.Bench said that when the film was passed by Censor Board then there was no reason for the court to interfere and people should not object to the screening of a film which had been approved by the statutory body. “Just because there are two-three sensitive people, can we pass an extreme order that with respect to deity, there shall be no creativity, no literature, no sculpture?…Animated films are for the purpose of children…Earlier, there used to be Yashodhama every night. People used to collect money for it. Artists can’t be taken to ransom like this,” court said while rejecting the plea of the temple committee.
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“We cannot sit in judgement in the matter of art and creativity,” it said.Advocate general of Odisha Pritambar Acharya submitted that Lord Jagannath cannot be depicted as Doraemon and Spiderman. But senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing for the producer, refuted the allegation that the deity had been shown in a derogatory manner and pointed out that committee members had walked out of the special screening of the film.The court thereafter refused to modify its earlier order allowing release of the film.
