NEW DELHI: The Mumbai High Court will hear a petition on 19 September challenging the grant of a censor certificate to the film Baabarr on the plea that it was a negative portrayal of a particular community and was likely to lead to ‘public disharmony’.

The public interest litigation by Anwar Hussein Mukeri against director Ashuu Trikha, producer Ridhi Sidhi films, Union of India, State of Maharashtra and Central Board of Certification says the film should not have been issued even an ‘adults only’ certificate.

Released on 4 September, the film is about the faction fights between two criminal gangs in Uttar Pradesh and how a twelve-year old gets embroiled in the underworld.

The petitioner says certain characters and incidents are clearly identifiable with real life personalities and screening of the film may lead to ‘public disharmony‘. The director and producer have been accused of showing the ugly side of an entire community. It is alleged that the film has tried to show that woman and children of the families are involved in crime and entire areas where the community lives is part of the underworld.

The grant of a censor certificate to a film showing children involved in crime has also been challenged in the petition.