Plea seeking ban on ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’ trailer filed in HC

New Delhi, Jan 5 (IANS) A petition seeking a ban on trailer of the movie 'The Accidental Prime Minister' was filed in the Delhi High Court, a lawyer said on Saturday.

"The film producers had no authority to violate the mandate of the Constitution of India which provides respect towards constitutional functionaries," the petition said.

"It seems filmmakers and producers have made an attempt to make commercial gains. The acts of impersonation have been committed deliberately to defame the office of the Prime Minister to hype the excitement among the prospective viewers," the petition said.

The story of the film is claimed to be based on the book of the same name written by Sanjaya Baru, the former media advisor of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Actors Anupam Kher and Akshay Khanna have played the role of Singh and Baru in the film. The film will release on January 11.

The plea was filed by Delhi-based fashion designer Pooja Mahajan through her counsel Arun Maitri. The petitioner said the trailer violated Section 416 of the Indian Penal Code as impersonation of a living character or living persons is impermissible in law.

Advocate Maitri said the film producers have not taken any consent from Manmohan Singh, Congress President Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi to perform their characters or perform their political life or to dress up in the same way as they had been doing in their normal life or copy their voice in any manner.

As per CBFC guidelines on films based on real-life characters, a 'no objection certificate (NOC)' is required, but for the trailer, no such NOC was obtained, the petitioner said.

In the plea, Mahajan has requested the court to issue directions to the Centre, Google, Youtube and Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to take steps to stop the exhibition, display of trailer of 'The Accidental Prime Minister'.