Delhi Court Halts ‘Mohalla Assi’ Release

A Delhi court has reportedly banned the release of controversial film ‘Mohalla Assi’. A complaint has been lodged against director Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi and lead actor of the film Sunny Deol for using foul language and portraying the holy city of Varanasi in a bad light. Gulshan Kumar, a resident of Delhi, filed a complaint stating that a character in the film dressed as lord Shiva has been shown using "very abusive and filthy language" and charging few hundred rupees for getting pictures clicked with the people at a ghat.

Civil Judge Kishor Kumar said, "Use of such language by Lord Shiva makeover is really hurting... Therefore, at this stage, a prima facie case is made out that until the religiously hurting scenes and dialogues/words wherein the abusive and filthy language has been used, are removed, the movie should not be released". The flick is loosely based on a popular Hindi novel ‘Kashi Ka Assi’ by renowned scholar Dr. Kashinath Singh. Assi Ghat is a ghat on the banks of river Ganga in Varanasi.

Actors Sunny Deol, Ravi Kishan and Sakshi Tanwar are playing pivotal roles in the movie. The film is set in the post-independence era. The movie is a satire on the commercialisation of Varanasi and is in news since two weeks after it’s leaked trailed went viral on the internet.