‘Amaran’ producers modify scene, obtain fresh censor certificate following legal battle

A still from the movie Amaran

Raajkamal Films International, the producers of Sivakarthikeyan-starrer Amaran, on Friday (December 6, 2024) informed the Madras High Court of having blurred a mobile phone number displayed in one of the romantic scenes in the movie and having obtained a fresh censor board certificate before releasing the movie on Netflix on Thursday (December 5, 2024).

Appearing before Justice S. Sounthar, senior counsel P.H. Arvindh Pandian, representing the production firm, said that a writ petition filed by an engineering student to quash the censor certificate had become infructuous since the producers had made the necessary changes to the scene in question and obtained a fresh certificate.

The student V.V. Vaageesan from Alwarthirunagar in Chennai had moved the High Court because the random phone number displayed in that particular scene happened to be his personal number. He claimed he was bombarded with phone calls from moviegoers ever since the film hit the theatres on October 31, 2024.

When the judge pointed out that nothing survived in the writ petition due to the changes made by the producers to the contentious scene and the fresh censor certificate obtained by them, the petitioner’s counsel said, he had also sought an interim prayer for the award of a compensation of ₹1.1 crore.

Wondering how compensation could be awarded in writ proceedings, the judge said, the petitioner would have to resort to the common law remedy of filing a civil suit, seeking damages for the infringement of his privacy and the mental agony undergone due to the display of his phone number in the movie.

Since the petitioner’s counsel insisted on pursuing the writ proceedings, the judge directed the production firm to file a formal counter-affidavit to the writ petition by December 20 and also ordered notices to the Central Board of Film Certification, the film’s director Rajkumar Periyasamy, and Bharti Airtel Limited.

Though the petitioner’s counsel insisted on issuing a direction to the telecom operator to submit the incoming call records of the phone number from October 31, the judge said, the petitioner could not use the writ proceedings to collect the materials required by him for filing the civil suit.

Justice Sounthar also said that he could, however, direct the telecom operator to block all incoming calls to the petitioner’s mobile phone number for some time if he was agreeable to such a course of action. Otherwise, the remedy for the petitioner was only before the civil court and not the writ court, he pointed out.