After a Malayalam filmmaker approached the Kerala High Court seeking restrictions on the instant negative reviews that vloggers and social media influencers post immediately after a movie release, the court has sought the State Police Chief’s opinion on how complaints can be made in such instances.
The petitioner, director Mubeen Rouf who made Aaromalinde Adhyathe Pranayam that released Friday, October 6, wanted a gag order on such reviews for up to seven days after a film's release. He alleged that some people with an online presence had threatened to post bad reviews for his film if he didn’t agree to pay them to promote his movie.
The court, which considered the case a serious issue, had appointed Advocate Syam Padman as the Amicus Curiae on Thursday, and sought the response of the Union government, reports LiveLaw.
"While the right of free speech is inherent and constitutionally guaranteed, it certainly has to be tempered with reason and restraint, as are constitutionally required under Article 19(2) (which speaks about reasonable restrictions on freedom of speech). A fair criticism of an intellectual property, be that a movie or otherwise, and a pernicious attempt to blackmail, and extort, are two different aspects, which have to be clearly seen through and dealt with distinctly," said Justice Devan Ramachandran, hearing the plea.
The Amicus Curiae told the court on Friday that he found in his preliminary investigation that there were people who boasted that they could "make or break a film."
The petitioner Mubeen Rouf had alleged that he got calls from social media influencers and vloggers who threatened to spread negative reviews about his film if he did not pay them to promote the movie. He also claimed that people who claimed to be film critics gave negative reviews the day of the film’s release, without even watching it.
"There have been many doyens of constructive criticism, who have contributed abundantly for the transformation of the movies and the film fraternity as a whole. But unfortunately nowadays any person having a smartphone can hastily dismiss a film even without viewing the same," said Mubeen’s plea. The negative reviews would lead the films to fail at the box office and directly affect the livelihood of many in the industry, it said. The petitioner wanted the Union government to form guidelines and standards for online film critics and vloggers.
Government pleader Vidya Kuriakose told the court that the state has a competent cyber police wing and there should be measures that allow those associated with the film industry to file complaints.
The matter will be heard again on October 10.