The Madras High Court on Friday dismissed a writ petition seeking a direction to the Censor Board not to issue certification for ‘Ponnar Sankar’ (a Prashanth starrer based on a book by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi), without removing the “offensive” contents.

Justice P Jyothimani dismissed a petition filed by M Loganathan, managing trustee of Kongu Kalvi Valarchi Arakattalai, seeking that the Central Board of Film Certification be directed not to issue certification for the film before its producers remove allegedly offensive content.

Loganathan said that he is an ardent devotee of Annamar Swamy (Ponnar Sankar), a family deity for the Kongu Vellalar Gounder community members. In the late 80s, the Chief Minister began writing a series of articles on the life of Annamar Swamy in a weekly magazine which was later compiled into a book which formed the basis for the film.

Alleging that stills and trailer of the movie showed “several explicit and indecent depictions” which distorted the story, the petitioner wrote to the Regional Officer of the Central Board of Film Certification on March 22, expressing his objections. As there was no response from the Censor Board, he said he approached the court.

The Judge said the petition was misconceived. He said it could not issue a direction to the Censor Board under Article 226. The film’s characters are not depicted as immoral so as to warrant the court’s issue of a direction to its producers, he added.