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The Allahabad high court (Lucknow bench) on Wednesday asked the central government as to whether the film 'Prithviraj' has been approved by the Central Board of Film Certification or not.

The bench of Attau Rahman Masoodi and Justice Narendra Kumar Johari has passed the order on a Public Interest Litigation moved by Karni Sena's Sangeeta Singh alleging that movie's preview itself depicts king Prithviraj Chauhan in a degrading manner which hurt sentiments of the Rajput community.

Singh, who is National Vice President of (women wing) of Shri Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena, has alleged that not only film’s title dishonors the warrior King but also it presents a wrong and vulgar picture of him. The plea presses that from previews of the movie itself, it is clear that the movie is controversial.

Apart from the Central and State governments, the Censor Board, film’s director Chandraprakash Dwivedi, producer Aditya Chopra and actor Akshay Kumar have also been arrayed as parties in the case.

Interestingly, the plea alleges that the title of the movie i.e., “Prithviraj” has been put without any dignified prefix or suffix, deliberately and with ulterior motive to undermine the dignity of the great Indian King Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan who ruled India in the 12th Century and was the last king of the Chauhan Dynasty.

The plea presses that along with public protests by the Rajput Community and others, representations had also been made to the State Government as well as to the Union government to stop the shooting of the film and to ask the Central Board of film certificate to not grant a certificate for release to the film but to no avail.

Objections to the attire worn by the actress, who has played the role of king’s wife Queen Sanyogita, have also been raised by Singh. Her plea reads that the attire worn by the actress shows disrespect to the sentiments and emotions of the followers and believers of the history of the king.

Singh has further alleged that the film has been made with a malafide intention to gain profit disregarding the historical facts.

Case Title: Sangeeta Singh (Social Activist) vs. UOI and Ors.