A still from Kingdom.
| Photo Credit: X/@KINGDOM_Offl
The Madras High Court, on Thursday (August 7, 2025), directed the Tamil Nadu police to provide adequate protection to cinema theatres screening Vijay Deverakonda-starrer Kingdom if there were reports of threats issued to theatre owners or of the screening being disrupted by any individual/organisation.
Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy passed the orders while disposing of a writ petition filed by SSI Production, which had bagged the Tamil Nadu theatrical rights of the trilingual movie released in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi, complaining about threats issued to theatre owners by Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) members across the State.
The petitioner’s counsel told the court that NTK chief coordinator S. Seeman had tweeted against the movie on his X handle on August 4, alleging that it portrays the Tamil Eelam issue in a derogatory manner, and since then, his party members had begun to disrupt the screenings in many theatres.
He played to the court videos of the movie’s posters and flex boards having been damaged in some places and claimed that in some theatres, the protesters had entered the cinema hall and registered their objection to its content in an attempt to dissuade the public from watching the movie.
Letters written by NTK members to some of the theatre owners in the State were also produced before the court. Government Advocate (criminal side) said, so far, 16 persons had been arrested in connection with the issue and that multiple demonstrations had been conducted by the NTK cadre.
On the other hand, advocate S. Shankar, representing Mr. Seeman, told the court his client, being the leader of a political party, had only opposed the content of the movie but had not prevented anyone from screening it. He also said that only peaceful protests were undertaken against the movie in a democratic manner.
Stating that a few isolated incidents leading to the arrest of 16 people need not be blown out of proportion, he said, it was not right on the part of the makers of Kingdom to portray as though all Sri Lankan Tamils were not natives but only migrants, and that all of them were indulging in illegal activities such as smuggling.
Intervening at this point, Justice Chakravarthy said, “You and I may not agree with the content of the movie if it is very, very abhorrent as you say… Some issues may be close to our heart, but another person may have a different view on that. The artistic freedom in a democracy will have to be protected always.”
In the same breath, agreeing that a political party also has a right to register its protest, the judge said, such protest must be conducted after obtaining due permission from the police and at a place earmarked by the police for the conduct of demonstrations, fast, and so on, he said.
“In a democracy, the creator of a movie has got every right to express his fair views. In this case, it is the specific case of the writ petitioner that Kingdom is a work of fiction. Even if the views expressed in a movie are abhorrent or unpalatable, no third party can prevent the exhibition of the movie or threaten the theatre owners after the censor board had cleared it for screening in theatres,” the judge said.
Published – August 07, 2025 03:26 pm IST
