The Andhra Pradesh High Court has stayed the release of Rajdhani Files, a film said to be critical of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, till Friday.Pronouncing a set of interim orders, the court directed that all the records pertaining to the movie be placed before it. The APHC will continue the hearing of the case on Friday and will pronounce the judgment.The Rajdhani Files was released in theatres on Thursday, but the theatres abruptly stopped screening the movie due to the HC orders. This angered spectators in several places.Amaravati farmers came to watch the movie in a theatre at Undavalli of Amaravati but the management stopped the movie in the middle due to the APHC orders. The disappointed farmers and Telugu Desam activists staged a protest for some time at the theatre.A similar protest took place at a theatre in Vijayawada too.According to the reports, the Rajadhani Files film aims to shed light on the YSRC government’s proposal to establish three capitals in AP.The high court had earlier reserved its orders on a stay petition filed by YSRC MLC and party general secretary Lella Appi Reddy.Justice N. Jayasurya reserved his order on the petition challenging the censor certificate issued to the movie.Appi Reddy’s counsel, V.R.N. Prashant, argued that the characters in the movie resembled CM Jagan Mohan Reddy and former minister Kodali Sri Venkateswara Rao alias Nani. Even the names given to the characters were similar to those of the CM and the ex-minister, he stated.The petitioner alleged that the movie is being released just before the elections to malign the present government and the CM. “Certain scenes in the film are defamatory to Jagan Reddy and these misled people by distorting facts.” The trailer of the film was released on February 5.The petitioner’s counsel argued that the chief minister and the government were portrayed negatively for “selfish political reasons.”Asserting that freedom of expression has its limits, he argued that the filmmakers had crossed that line to defame the ruling party ahead of the upcoming elections.The petitioner’s counsel also contended that since the issue of capital cities is sub-judice, making a film on the same topic is inappropriate.U. Muralidhar Rao, representing the movie’s producers, informed the court that the film was not intended to malign anyone. “The producers had agreed to the revision committee’s suggestions after the censor board recommended the deletion of some scenes. The censor certificate was issued after certain scenes were removed based on the revision committee’s recommendations.”Written and directed by Bhanu, Rajdhani Files features new actors Akilan and Veena in the lead roles.Kantamaneni Ravi Shankar, who contested as a TD rebel candidate from the Avanigadda constituency in the 2019 elections, produced the movie.
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