High Court bans S.J. Surya's 'New'

The Madras High Court on August.5 revoked the censor certificate for the Tamil film "New" starring producer-actor S.J. Surya and actress Simran.

The court also directed the Chennai Commissioner of Police to investigate two criminal complaints registered against S.J. Surya.

A division bench comprising Justice M. Karpagavinayagam and Justice S. Ashok Nagar ruled that the film did not provide a "clean and healthy entertainment" and that it would be failing in its duty if it did not revoke the censor certificate of the film.

Passing orders on a petition filed by advocate Arulmozhi, the bench observed: There is no difficulty for this court to conclude that the theme, scenes, sequences and songs depicting child abuse, vulgarity obscenity and dialogues giving dual meaning, cater to the baser instincts of the public. They would violate the statutory provisions and guidelines and, as such, it has to be held that the film "New" has not been produced in accordance with the guidelines of the Cinematograph Act and that the censor certificate has been issued to this film by the Board with folded hands and blind eyes, and hence the same is liable to be revoked."

Ms. Arulmozhi, advocate, in her petition, submitted that the censor certificate was initially refused, but "A" certificate was obtained "under questionable circumstances". Protests by a lady member of the Board were brushed aside.

The producer also used publicity materials not permitted by the Board. Even censored sequences and clippings were freely telecast in all TV channels enabling children to view them. This rendered "A" certificate meaningless, petitioner alleged and pleaded that if the court did not intervene, and the history of Tamil cinema will get sullied.

The Advocate also charged that the police had not acted on several complaints made against the producer. Revoking the censor certificate, the division bench directed the Chief Secretary to ensure the proper implementation of the provisions of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act and the Tamil Nadu (Compulsory Censorship of Film Publicity Materials) Act.

The judges also directed the Chennai Police Commissioner to have the two cases registered against Surya investigated and report filed immediately.

Following complaints, the Censor Board had engaged a private agency to detect violations by the producer. After a large number of violations were found by the detective agency, the Board filed a complaint with the Chennai Police against S.J. Surya on August 20, 2004.

The film was screened for the judges during the course of the trial. Click the Movie button below for more info:
New