CALCUTTA: The Calcutta high court stayed the shooting of the controversial film City of Joy based on Dominique Lapierre’s bestselling book of the same name.
Justice M.K.Mitra of the high court in an interim order on a writ Petition by five lawyers of the court directed the director Roland Joffe and the producer Ian Smith to stop the shooting until further orders.
A mandatory order has also been issued directing the filmmakers to produce in the court the film’s script on March 5 when the matter would be taken up for hearing.
The petitioners contended that under section 5b of the cinematography act the union Government was under obligation to stop immediately shooting of any film based on the book as its theme was repugnant to honor and respect of Indian people.
The theme was also against decency and morality according to Indian standards The petition said.
The petitioners said that the book was insulting to the people of Calcutta in particular and to those of India in general as the jobless poor people of the city had been described as “bastards” and monks of Ramakrishna Mission as pimps.
The petition said in the portion of the film already shot teenage girls were shown soliciting foreigners at posh hotels and exposing their bodies. One of them uttered a dialogue which the petitioners said was particularly insulting to Indian women hood.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 8, 1991
