"English cinema has done it before": Kerala High Court on petition against 'Antony' movie for hiding gun in Bible

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday made some pertinent observations on rising intolerance when it comes to religion and matters of faith [Mr. Joji Varghese v. State of Kerala].Single-judge Justice Devan Ramachandran was considering a petition challenging a scene from Malayalam movie 'Antony' that shows a gun kept inside a Bible."Should we be so intolerant that even for a passing reference to a book you should take up objection? Even if it is a Bible, doesn't there need to be a negative reference or connotation for you to object," Justice Ramachandran remarked.The Court remarked that whatever be the holy text used in the scene, some section or the other would be unhappy. "Bible is used to hide a gun so Christians are unhappy. If it is Gita, Hindus will become unhappy. If it is Quran, Muslims will be unhappy" the judge orally observed. .He added that such scenes used to be frequently employed in English movies from 1960s and 70s. "Keeping a gun in a Bible is something that has been done umpteen times in English cinema in the 60s and 70s. It is just that Malayalis are doing it now," he said. .The judge also questioned why the petitioner was objecting to a "fleeting scene" with a Bible. ."Bible is used to hide a gun so Christians are unhappy. If it is Gita, Hindus will become unhappy. If it is Quran, Muslims will be unhappy"Kerala High Court.The petition was moved by one Joji Varghese challenging the release of Antony. Justice Ramachandran noted that the movie has been cleared by the Censor Board and the Bible in the scene has already been blurred. He opined that such petitions would only benefit the movie makers who could use the publicity, negative or otherwise, to increase the reach of their movie. "Only the movie makers will benefit from this petition. Did they ask you to file this petition? What movie is this? Antony? Has anyone watched this? This movie has already been examined by censor board," the judge said.However, Justice Ramachandran agreed to watch the objectionable portion of the movie in Court and asked the counsel to produce the same. The matter will be taken up after two weeks.