Court case(1970) 2 SCC 780

The film-maker K.A. Abbas made a documentary, 'A Tale of Four Cities', contrasting the luxury of the rich with the poverty of the working class and including scenes of Bombay's red-light district. The Board of Film Censors offered a 'U' certificate only if those scenes were cut; the Central Government granted an 'A' certificate instead. Abbas challenged the scheme of pre-censorship of films under the Cinematograph Act 1952 as violating Article 19(1)(a), and the censorship directions as vague.

Hidayatullah CJ upheld pre-censorship of films. Censorship of films, including prior restraint, is justified under Article 19(2) because a motion picture is able to stir up emotions more deeply than any other product of art; its versatility, realism and co-ordination of the visual and aural senses give it a mass appeal and an impact that print does not have, and so it must be treated differently from other forms of expression. Classification of films into 'A' and 'U' categories is valid. The Court nevertheless insisted that the standards be precise and that the censors look at the film as a whole, judging whether the net effect promotes depravity, not whether isolated scenes shock. The Government undertook to provide an appeal to an independent tribunal rather than to itself; the vagueness challenge failed in view of the detailed directions under section 5B.