High Court bans release of Hansal Mehta's 'Faraaz' in B'desh

Dhaka, Feb 21

The Bangladesh High Court on Monday banned the promotion and screening of "Faraaz", a film directed by Indian filmmaker Hansal Mehta, in the country's cinema halls and online platforms.

Based on the real-life terrorist attack that ravaged a Dhaka cafe in 2016, 'Faraaz' is a hostage drama starring Juhi Babbar, Aamir Ali, Zahan Kapoor and Aditya Rawal, among others.

After hearing a writ petition, the high court bench of justices Md Khasruzzaman and Md Iqbal Kabir delivered the order to ban the screeing of the film in Bangladesh.

The writ petition was filed by Ruba Ahmed, the mother of Abinta Kabir who was killed by militants in the attack on the Holey Artisan cafe on July 1, 2016. The Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has been made the defendant in the writ petition.

The film is yet to be approved by the Bangladesh Film Censor Board.

On January 19, Ruba Ahmed had raised the same demand to stall the release of the film in Bangladesh claiming that it could tarnish the reputation of Bangladesh.

Later, the petitioner's lawyer, Ahsanul Karim said the petition was filed to stop projecting the film on cinema halls in Bangladesh as well as on online platforms, Dhaka Tribune reported.

"The footage in the movie shows two militants talking, one of whom was or is in a relation with Abinta. Her dress up was shown in such a way that educated families in our civilised society would never wear. The character of the girl was degraded in the movie," said Karim, according to Dhaka Tribune.

"Also, the movie showed the failure of the law enforcement officers which poses serious questions about our sovereignty. For these reasons, this movie should not be shown on any platform in Bangladesh," Karim added.