MADURAI: The Madras High Court’s Madurai bench on Thursday directed filmmaker Lokesh Kanagaraj to respond to a plea against the depiction of violence in the movie Leo.
An advocate from Madurai, KH Raja Murugan, stated in the petition that the Vijay-starrer promoted violence. He contended that Lokesh Kanagaraj seemed to make movies that encouraged and glorified violence. He argued that almost 80 percent of the penal sections would apply to the brutality found in his movies. The petitioner objected to vivid scenes of mass killings, drug and alcohol abuse, and harassment of women and children in his movies.
He argued that the use of different types of dangerous weapons such as knives, iron rods, guns and explosives is shown in his movies, more as a tutorial for making them at home. He claimed that it would be guiding anti-social elements to perpetrate crimes with more advanced weapons.
Even as the judicial system is working hard to punish criminals and help to make a society free of crimes, the film director is going to release more such abhorrent movies, described as the Lokesh Cinematic Universe (LCU) connected with similar themes, the litigant argued.
The advocate pleaded with the court to order the Chennai City Commissioner of Police to check on the director’s mental state with the help of a trained psychologist. The petitioner also sought compensation of Rs 1,000 for causing mental torture by watching the movie for three hours in a theatre.
A division bench of Justice D Krishnakumar and Justice R Vijayakumar, who heard the pleadings, directed the film director Lokesh Kanagaraj to respond in detail before adjourning the case.
The petitioner has also appealed to the court to order the revocation of the censor certificate issued for the movie Leo.