Court puts Brakes on Ram Gopal Varma's controversial film Murder on Honour Killing

On Monday, a Telangana Court restrained controversial filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma from going ahead with the production of Murder till the completion of a probe into the incident of honour killing on which the film is based.

The Special Court for SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities) cases in Nalgonda directed Varma & producer Natti Karuna not to make & release the movie till the probe into the murder of Pranay Kumar was completed.

The Court passed the interim orders on a petition filed by P. Balaswamy, whose son Pranay Kumar was murdered in 2018 allegedly by his father-in-law Maruthi Rao who had refused to accept his marriage with his daughter.

Srikanth Iyengar & Sahithi are playing the lead roles in Murder which is being made on the banners of Nattis Entertainment. The makers of the film had planned to release it in theatres as soon as the lockdown restrictions on cinema halls are lifted.

Last month, on the direction of the Court, the Police in Miryalguda town had filed a case against Varma & Natti Karuna.

They were booked under Indian Penal Code Section 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc & doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) & other sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act.

Balaswamy, who had approached the court in June, sought a ban on the film on the ground that it could mislead the investigations into the case. He also said that photos of Pranay & his daughter-in-law Amrutha were being used without their consent.

Pranay, a 24-year-old Dalit, was hacked to death by hired killers in full public view when he along with his wife & mother were coming out of a private hospital in Miryalaguda on Sept 14, 2018. The sensational murder was caught on a CCTV camera.

Maruthi Rao, who belonged to an upper caste, & seven others were arrested in connection with the case.

Rao, who had struck the deal to kill Pranay for Rs 1 crore, allegedly committed suicide in March this year in Hyderabad.

Varma announced in June that he was making a film on the story of Maruthi Rao & his daughter.

On June 21, the director tweeted that "On the occasion of Father's Day I am launching the first look poster of a film based on the tragic story of Amrutha & her over loving father Maruthi Rao".

Varma said that "This is going to be a heart wrenching story based on the Amrutha & Maruthi Rao saga about the dangers of a father loving a daughter too much".

Amrutha, who lives with her in-laws, had reacted strongly to Varma's plans & vowed to fight a legal battle to stop the film.

Varma tweeted, "It's foolish to assume that I am going to show someone involved in a negative light because I strongly believe that nobody is bad & only bad circumstances make people look bad or make them behave bad & that's what I intend to explore in 'Murder".

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