Madras HC directs T.N. police to offer safety to theatres screening Vijay Deverakonda-starrer Kingdom in case of disruptions

The Madras High Court, on Thursday (August 7, 2025), directed the #Tamil Nadu police to offer satisfactory safety to cinema theatres screening #Vijay Deverakonda-starrer Kingdom if there have been reviews of threats issued to theatre house owners or of the screening being disrupted by any particular person/organisation.

Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy handed the orders whereas disposing of a writ petition filed by SSI Production, which had bagged the #Tamil Nadu theatrical rights of the trilingual film launched in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi, complaining about threats issued to theatre house owners by #Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) members throughout the State.

The petitioner’s counsel instructed the courtroom that NTK chief coordinator S. Seeman had tweeted towards the film on his X deal with on August 4, alleging that it portrays the Tamil Eelam challenge in a derogatory method, and since then, his occasion members had begun to disrupt the screenings in lots of theatres.

He performed to the courtroom movies of the film’s posters and flex boards having been broken in some locations and claimed that in some theatres, the protesters had entered the cinema corridor and registered their objection to its content material in an try to dissuade the general public from watching the film.

Letters written by NTK members to a few of the theatre house owners within the State had been additionally produced earlier than the courtroom. Government Advocate (felony aspect) stated, to this point, 16 individuals had been arrested in reference to the problem and that a number of demonstrations had been performed by the NTK cadre.

On the opposite hand, advocate #S. Shankar, representing Mr. Seeman, instructed the courtroom his consumer, being the chief of a political occasion, had solely opposed the content material of the film however had not prevented anybody from screening it. He additionally stated that solely peaceable protests had been undertaken towards the film in a democratic method.

Stating that a couple of remoted incidents resulting in the arrest of 16 folks needn’t be blown out of proportion, he stated, it was not proper on the a part of the makers of Kingdom to painting as if all #Sri Lankan Tamils weren’t natives however solely migrants, and that each one of them had been indulging in unlawful actions comparable to smuggling.

Intervening at this level, #Justice Chakravarthy stated, “You and I’ll not agree with the content material of the film if it is vitally, very abhorrent as you say… Some points could also be near our coronary heart, however one other individual might have a unique view on that. The creative freedom in a democracy should be protected all the time.”

In the identical breath, agreeing {that a} political occasion additionally has a proper to register its protest, the choose stated, such protest should be performed after acquiring due permission from the police and at a spot earmarked by the police for the conduct of demonstrations, quick, and so forth, he stated.

“In a democracy, the creator of a film has received each proper to precise his truthful views. In this case, it’s the particular case of the writ petitioner that Kingdom is a piece of fiction. Even if the views expressed in a film are abhorrent or unpalatable, no third occasion can stop the exhibition of the film or threaten the theatre house owners after the censor board had cleared it for screening in theatres,” the choose stated.