Munduvareda Adhyaya gets poor reviews: Filmmakers' plea to KFCC to ban Youtube reviewers sparks row

Bengaluru: Critics and their reviews can play an important role in audience decision making to watch a film. But poor rating given by reviewers to Sandalwood's latest release 'Munduvareda Adhyaya', starring Aditya in the lead role, have incensed the makers so much that they have approached the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC), seeking a ban on Youtube reviews.

This move by the filmmakers has set a stage for the debate about the state of film criticism which has now been classified into two camps – one is print media and another is Internet. The Internet has given rise to a pedestrian criticism by everybody and anybody without any fine sense of the art of film criticism. Amateurs, fanboys and diehard fans of certain heroes present their views. Unbiased reviews by print media experts with considerable experience traditionally carry more weight. But beb enthusiasts counter that it is in a new golden age of film criticism and accuse the traditionalists of jealousy.

The 'Munduvareda Adhyaya' team has been upset with the YouTubers who have indiscriminately made some negative reviews of the movie. Aditya and team have lodged a complaint with the film chamber and demanded a ban on the YouTuber review.

Speaking to The Hans India, Umesh Banakar, Vice-President of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) said, "The team has approached us with a request to take action against YouTubers for reviewing the film unscientifically. We will discuss this issue with a legal team. Also, will make it clear that the complaint is not aimed at "regular and respected journalists" but at "a group of Internet and YouTube reviewers who call themselves journalists. The film team is questioning the credentials and expertise of YouTubers. These people are not trained journalists. They are sort of mafia sitting in front of the camera."

Although the complaint doesn't seem to have any legal standing because once an artistic work, be it a drama or a film or a book is released for public, it opens itself for criticism. No one can ban critics and reviews. Also, critics and reviewers agree that published negative reviews alone don't make the general public develop an unfavourable opinion of the film. The attempt to curb free expression and immature counter-move is not only wildly irresponsible but also laughably absurd. Hence, the banning of the film receivers brings us to the cardinal question: Do we have the freedom of speech and expression?

"Law in no way prohibits the expression of their view once it is in public domain and the critic is the heart of evolving into the betterment of things. It does not amount to violation of provision of law and just because one does not agree with the critic's review cannot be a ground to reject the views of others. Accepting when it is praising and rejecting the same when it is showing your mistakes clearly discloses the mindset of people. Law in no way interferes with fare review as it is one's own view and one need not to accept all that is done by another person," says Purushothan Prabhakar, advocate.

Aditya is facing severe backlash on social media for his comments. A video on social media shows Aditya using abusive language against Youtubers. It is also said that Aditya's video against them is prima facie defamatory. "And the language used by the actor against the Youtubers is derogatory and amounts to defamatory statement made in a verbal form and can be looked into by the Youtubers," the advocate further added.