Shane Nigam starrer Haal has courted controversy with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) asking the makers to remove a scene involving beef biriyani besides 18 other cuts.
Haal, which is filmmaker Veera's debut directorial, was set to release on September 12 simultaneously in Malayalam, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada. However, it was later postponed.
The censor board has also sought to remove certain dialogues in Haal wherein "dhawaja pranamam" and "Sangh is on guard" are mentioned.
CBFC is yet to issue a censor certificate for the movie, following which the producers, JVJ Productions, moved Kerala High Court.
The petitioners have informed the court that the CBFC decision goes against the Right to Freedom of Speech. They have also sought to set standards to complete censoring in a time-bound manner.
Haal is written by Nishad K. Koya, who is known for scripting Ordinary, Thoppil Joppan, Shikari Shambu and Madhura Naranga.
The film will see Sakshi Vaidya opposite Shane Nigam. Other cast include Johny Antony, Nishant Sagar, Joy Mathew, Nandu, K. Madhupal, Sangeetha Madhavan Nair, Niyas Backer, Riyaz Narmakala, Suresh Krishna, Ravindran, Sohan Seenulal, Manoj K.U, Unniraja and Sreedhanya.
With prominence for music, Haal will see the Malayalam debut of singer Ankit Tiwari. The music is composed by Nandagopan V. while Think Music is the music partner. Lyrics are penned by Vinayak Sasikumar, Bins, Muthu, Neeraj Kumar, Mridul Meer and Aby.
Earlier, the censor board had objected to the name, Janaki, is the title of the film, JSK: Janaki vs State of Kerala, asking the makers to remove the name from the title and the lead character. Later, it was renamed as JSK: Janaki V Vs State of Kerala.
