Churuli: Kerala High Court notice to Censor Board, producer, director, actors on plea to take down movie for "foul language"

The Kerala High Court on Thursday issued notice to the director, producers and lead actors of the Malayalam movie "Churuli" on a plea seeking its removal from Over the Top (OTT) platforms for the use of abusive language in the movie [Peggy Fen v Central Board of Film Certification & Ors.]..Justice N Nagaresh admitted the plea and issued notice to the respondents, including the Central Board of Film Certification, the Managing Director of Sony Pictures, the film's director Lijo Jose Pellissery and actors Chemban Vinod Jose, Joju George and Jaffor Idukki..Churuli is a Malayalam movie directed and co-produced by Lijo Jose Pellissery and written by S Hareesh. The original story and characters are based on a short story from the book Kaligaminarile Kuttavalikal, written by Vinoy Thomas.The movie, which has been described as a mind-churner, was released on OTT platform SonyLiv on November 19, 2021. It has received much critical acclaim but social media users were quick to comment on the oft-confusing plot and the distinctive language used in the movie..The petition, filed by a lawyer Peggy Fen through advocates CA Anoop and Krishna R, has sought the removal of the movie from the OTT platform citing uncensored language.According to the petitioner, the "overdose of foul language" in the movie offends public morality and outrages the modesty of women and children.The petitioner is concerned that movies, which are a form of art, influences common people of society."It is common among people to imitating the dialogues of the Malayalam movies and if this similar situation happens with the Movie "Churuli”, it will affect the public morality and tranquillity," the plea said.The petitioner further alleged that the Censor Board violated the rules and regulation by permitting the release of the movie and such release could attract offences under the Indian Penal Code as well.The petitioner pointed out that children and teenagers have much more access to OTT platforms these days especially during the pandemic period when they are mostly confined to their homes and have enough time to watch the content, on OTT platforms, on their phones and computers. The pandemic contributes to the problem in one more way as the closure of movie theatres have led to many families having multiple OTT subscriptions.This could lead to impressionable young children emulating and repeating the objectionable language used in the movie, the plea said. .On these grounds, among others, the petitioner urged the Court to issue orders to expeditiously take the movie down from SonyLiv .