Two petitions against ‘Dasavatharam’ dismissed

The Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed two petitions against the film ‘Dasavatharam. The petitions had alleged that the film contained scenes which offended Hindus.

In its order, a Division Bench comprising Justices K.Venkataraman and M.Sathyanarayanan, said: “We are constrained to come to the conclusion that the apprehension of the petitioners at this stage before they could view the film could only be a surmise and without proof that there are certain scenes which will affect the Hindus, more particularly the Vaishnavites.”
“IPR not involved”

The Bench said freedom of expression guaranteed under Art.19 (1) could not be curtailed on mere assumptions of the petitioners that the film contained certain scenes which would hurt the sentiments of Hindus.

There was no Intellectual Property Rights involved in the use of the title ‘Dasavatharam.’ The persons who view the film are not so illiterate as to take a view that it is 10 ‘avatars’ (incarnations) of Lord Vishnu.

“We are confident that the people at large will knowthat the hero of the film Kamal Haasan is acting in 10 different roles and that is why the film is named Dasavatharam.”

The usage of the title would not affect the sentiments of Hindus.