DHANANJAYA Y CHANDRACHUD, J. - (1.) Motivated by a mission to support meaningful Bengali cinema, the petitioners produced a film titled Bhobishyoter Bhoot. Their grievance, while invoking the jurisdiction of this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution is that the State of West Bengal, its Department of Home and the Kolkata Police have caused an "utterly unlawful obstruction of the public exhibition of their Bengali feature film". Simply put, their grievance is summarized in the extract which we reproduce from the first paragraph of the petition: "The State of West Bengal is misusing police power and acting as a 'super-censor' sitting atop the CBFC and is violating the Petitioners' fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14,19(1)(a), 19(1)(g) and 21 of the Indian Constitution through the Kolkata Police which is under the Department of Home."
(2.) The first petitioner is a company which was established in 2017. The second and third petitioners are its directors. They have co-produced the film. The second petitioner has earlier produced Meghnadbodh Rohoshyo, a Bengali feature film which was selected in the Indian Panorama section of the 48th International Film Festival of India at Goa in 2017. Bhobishyoter Bhoot, translated to mean "future ghosts" has been shortlisted in 2018 for the ARFF International - Barcelona Jury Award.
(3.) Bhobishyoter Bhoot is a social and political satire about ghosts who wish to make themselves relevant in the future by rescuing the marginalized and the obsolete. The film mourns the living dead. It laments the replacement of the outmoded cabaret with "item numbers". In the same vein the film bemoans the decline of typists and horologists of yesteryears with present day digital alternatives. The film dwells on the pristine values of journalism, film making and politics, which contemporary society sees as compromised. Bengal has a rich culture of stories about ghosts that are said to be "friendly and fun". One of the characters conceived by the director in an earlier film is stated to be a household name today among Bengalis. Anik Datta, the director of the film, is a protagonist of meaningful cinema. His films leave the viewer to reflect upon social and political issues. Known for films packed with wit, punch and humour, Datta produced Bhooter Bhobishyot (the future of ghosts), a comedy which popularized the use of ghosts as a visual art form in Bengali cinema. The film depicted the machinations of a rapacious real estate developer to convert a dilapidated old home into a mall. The film adopted the agency of ghosts as protectors of the haunted house against builders. Datta's second film 'Ashcharjyo Prodeep' has dealt with the erosion of middle class values by the culture of consumerism. His third film 'Meghnadbodh Rohoshyo' is described as a political thriller which interweaves a theme involving Bengal of the 1970s with its modern existence.;