The Kerala High Court on Saturday (October 25, 2025) observed Malayalam film Haal, which is at the center of a lawsuit over alleged censorship.
Justice VG Arun watched the film directed by Muhammed Rafeeq (Veera) and starring Shane Nigam in a private studio at Kakkanad in Kochi in the evening.
The private screening was also attended by representatives of the Catholic Congress, which the High Court recently allowed to prevail in a petition filed by the filmmakers.
The makers of the film approached the Supreme Court and raised concerns with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) review committee, which demanded the removal of half a dozen scenes from the film.
The director-producer of the film was satisfied that many of the scenes, which the CBFC demanded to be deleted, were essential to the theme of the film. The scenes included one depicting the consumption of beef biriyani and another of the heroine wearing Muslim religious attire. The CBFC also sought the blurring of ‘rakhi’ in more scenes.
The Catholic Congress was allowed to prevail in the petition as it claimed in an affidavit that the film portrayed Bishop Thamarassery as an advocate of “love jihad”. The forum said that the alleged depiction of the bishop harms the religious sentiments of the Christian community and may disturb the peace in the society.
The upcoming film, the production of which has been completed, was supposed to be released on September 12. The demand to remove more scenes would further delay its release and cause financial loss, the filmmakers said.
Stating that nearly ₹15 crore was spent on the film’s production, they had earlier this month told the court that several social evils could be criticized and nothing in the film promoted any kind of enmity or violence. The case was handed over for hearing on October 30.
Published – 25 Oct 2025 20:01 IST
