Catholic nuns petition courts to stop “blasphemous” film’s release

By Jessy Joseph

New Delhi: A Catholic nun has urged the Delhi High Court to stop the release of a Malayalam film that she alleges would hurt Christians’ religious sentiments.

Sacred Heart Sister Jessy Mani, a New Delhi-based psychologist, approached the court on May 11 against “Aquarium,” which is set to air on an OTT (Over The Top) platform on May 14. The title contains an inverted cross, a symbol used by Satanic cults.

On the same day, the Kerala High Court stayed the film’s release for two weeks. The Kerala court acted on a similar petition filed by Sisters Josia and Mary KG.

“The Kerala High Court has stayed the release of the film ‘Aquarium’ for two weeks and the Delhi High Court is scheduled to hear the same matter on May 13,” advocate Jose Abraham told Matters India on May 12.

He said the interim order from the Kerala High Court also wanted the matter to be heard in detail. “The jurisdiction of this court also to be decided in detail,” the Kerala court further said.

Sister Usha Maria, Sacred Heart Delhi provincial, expressed happiness over the Kerala High Court’s interim order. “We hope to hear the same tomorrow from the Delhi High Court,” she told Matters India.

The film stars Malayalam film actors Sunny Wayne, Honey Rose and Rajshri Ponnappa in lead roles.

According to Sister Mani, the film is “blasphemous” as it allegedly “depicts the sexual relationship of nuns with two priests” and “an emotional relationship with Jesus Christ.”

The petition also points out that in the movie, the religious life of Catholic priests and nuns are portrayed merely as sex toys. It has “scenes of sexual relationships among same-sex, between priests and nuns and sex with animals, in a highly derogatory manner, thereby clearly tarnishing the reputation of the Catholic Church and its members, which in turn would demoralize the members who joined in the priestly order and nunship,” the petition claims.

The film also has conversations between the characters that give wrong impression of the Christians. They also misquote the Song of Songs from the Old Testament of the Bible for depicting Jesus Christ as a romantic God to “commit blasphemy” and hurt the Christians’ religious feelings.

According to the petitioner, the movie was completed in 2012-2013 and was originally named “Pithavinum Puthranum Parisudhathmavinum” (Father, Son and the Holy Spirit)

Later the word Parisudhathmavinum was deleted by the producers and when they applied for certificate from the censor board, the same was denied as the content of the film was likely to hurt the religious sentiments of the Christian community, Sister Mani has also claimed.

Now the producers are releasing the movie on an OTT platform, an audio and video hosting and streaming service, as these are not subject to any regulation presently, the plea has claimed.

The petition has urged the court to either stop release of the film or defer the same till the issue raised by the petitioner is decided.

In 2013, the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) refused public exhibition of the film when its producers applied for the certificate. The board found the film’s content “was likely to hurt the religious sentiments of the Christian community.” It also said the obscenity and the contents maligned the Catholic community.

The board also rejected the film’s clearance even after the director approached the review committee.

“Therefore, the producers of the film dropped the movie exhibition attempts in 2015 itself,” the nun told the court.

The producers now plan to release it on the OTT platform “Saina Play” for free, according to the trailer of the film available in YouTube.