'Omkara' hearing deferred till tomorrow

Mumbai, Aug 24 (UNI) The Petitioner's counsel today submitted an affidavit along with an annexure containing defamatory material in the film 'Omkara' before the City Civil Judge A T Vaidya.

Counsel M V Holmagi informed the court that despite the court's order, the petitioner was not allowed to enter the Cinema theatre yesterday to record objectionable material of the asove said film.

Hence' an affidavit in this regard along with the transcript matereial from the memory of the petitioner was submitted.

He also prayed before the court to issue directions to the defendant to produce objectionable material before the court, but the court rejected it on the grounds that it is for the plaintiff to provide the defamatory material.

The Court today directed the plaintiff counsel to furnish copies of the affidavit and annexure to the defendant's counsel and then adjourned the matter for hearing tomorrow.

Since the plaintiff had not annexed the alleged defamatory material along with his application, the court yesterday ''granted permission to the plaintiff to see the movie and take the material'', enabling the court to pass necessary orders in the matter.

The petitioner, a small time actor, has filed this petition seeking the court's directive to ban the film and prosecute Kumar Mangat, producer of the film, Devgan films, Director Vishal Bharadwaj and others.

He contended that nearly 45 miniutes of the film had swear words in it.

'Omkara' is an adaptation of Shakesphere's 'Othello' and stars Ajay Devgan, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Nasserudin Shan among others. The movie was released last month to a luke warm response.

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