Plea against Malayalam film Churuli a publicity interest litigation: Kerala HC

Plea against Churuli a publicity interest litigation: Kerala HC

Kochi, Jan 31: The Kerala High Court on Monday described a PIL (public interest litigation) as a publicity interest litigation which sought the ban a Malayalam-myster horror movie Churuli from the OTT platform.

With the observations, Justice P V Kunhikrishnan reserved the judgement on the matter. Additional Advocate-General Grashious Kuriakose, appearing for the Censor Board, said the movie was cleared for public-viewing with an 'A' certification and related warnings, PTI reported.

The court was hearing the petition moved by a lawyer Peggy Fen, who said there was usage of foul language in the film and should be removed from the OTT platform. Earlier, the court termed as atrocious the language used in the film which was released via OTT platform on November 19.

The petition said there were filthy words in the film that could be offensive particulary to women and children. It contended that the movie did not adhere to the censor board rules and regulations and did not display any statutory warning when showing characters using alcohol or smoking, which is mandatory.

Churuli is directed and co-produced by Lijo Jose Pellissery and written by S Hareesh. The movie stars Vinay Forrt, Chemban Vinod Jose and Jaffar Idukki in key roles.

Churuli tells the story of two undercover police officers who search for a wanted criminal known as Mayiladumparambil Joy. However, they find themselves stuck in the village of Churuli as eerie mysteries unfold. The original story and characters are based on a short story from the book Kaligaminarile Kuttavalikal written by Vinoy Thomas. The film hit the OTT platform Sony LIV on 19 November 2021.