‘Sonia film doesn’t need her nod’

The Bombay high court (HC) was informed on Thursday that Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s permission was not required anymore for the release of a film based on her life.

Additional solicitor-general Rajendra Raghuvanshi told the court that the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) had withdrawn its precondition that Gandhi’s nod was needed to release the film.

In 2006, the board had slapped a notice on Thakur Dinesh Kumar, the producer of the film Sonia-Sonia, stating that a no-objection certificate from Gandhi was required to clear the film.

The members of the board had given it a ‘U’ rating in December 2005. However, the CBFC had said it would not issue the certificate for the film’s release without the Congress president’s nod.

Kumar had contended that he had written several letters to Gandhi and other party members before proceeding to make the film. However, they had not responded. So he went ahead and completed the film in 2005.

Thakur had then urged the CBFC to consider this as a no-objection certificate. He said if the content of the film, made in both English and Hindi, was found to be offensive to anyone, he was ready to face objections. But since the film had already been certified by the board, the insistence on a pre-condition
from Gandhi was only stalling its release.

Kumar, however, stated that he was compelled to move court after the CBFC did not respond to his requests. He said no provision in law gave the CBFC the power to lay down a pre-condition.

However, after the board withdrew the condition on Thursday, the court disposed of the petition.