Court stays release of Sunny Deol's 'Mohalla Assi'

A court here on Tuesday restrained the release of Sunny Deol-starrer "Mohalla Assi" countrywide saying a prima facie case was made out that the movie contained "filthy language".

Civil Judge Kishor Kumar restrained the release, which was scheduled for July 3.

The court's order came on a petition filed by Delhi resident Gulshan Kumar seeking stay on the release.

Kumar's counsel Sachin Mishra told the court that a character in the film dressed as Lord Shiva was depicted using very abusive and filthy language, and charging a few hundred rupees for photographs with people at a ghat.

The court, after watching the movie trailer, observed that it revealed that the movie was based on the Assi Ghat in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganga river.

It also observed that in the trailer, the characters were shown using very filthy language.

The court opined that use of such language by Lord Shiva may hurt religious sentiments of the people in case the movie is released and seen by public at large.

"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 court said.