The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear on April 8 a Congress leader’s plea which sought deferment of release of a biopic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi till the completion of upcoming Lok Sabha polls alleging that it was designed to “manipulate, influence and impress viewers and voters.”

Titled ‘PM Narendra Modi’, the biopic, which was slated to be released on April 5, has been postponed till further notice, its producer Sandip Ssingh said on Thursday. A bench of Justices SA Bobde, S Abdul Nazeer and Indira Banerjee said it will hear the plea on Monday.

High court refusals

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for petitioner Aman Panwar, spokesperson of the Congress, said two high courts have refused to interfere with the release of the movie starring Vivek Oberoi.

He sought urgent listing of the matter alleging that all four producers had “deep and pervasive links” to the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP).

Singhvi said that even Prasoon Joshi, Chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). is listed and credited as one of the artistes who worked on the film.

The bench initially observed that it would not like to entertain a fresh petition and would like to hear the appeals of the high court order.

Singhvi said that writ petition is filed as even the Election Commission has taken a stand in the Bombay High Court that it would not like to interfere with the movie’s release. He submitted that the release of the movie may affect free and fair elections as mandated in the Constitution and therefore they have moved the apex court.

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