NEW DELHI — India’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered movie theaters to play the national anthem before each screening, asserting that doing so would instill “a sense of committed patriotism and nationalism†in Indians.
In an interim order, the bench said that the anthem must be accompanied by images of the Indian flag, and that all present in the hall must stand while it is played.
“Be it stated, the time has come, the citizens of the country realize that they live in a nation and are duty bound to show respect to the national anthem,†the judgment reads.
It goes on to say that the Constitution “does not allow any different notion, or the perception of individual rights.â€
Citing the Prevention of Insults to National Honor Act of 1971, the order further held that theater exits should be shut while the anthem is playing, to avoid disrespectful milling.
Theaters have 10 days to comply.
The decision comes in a season of swelling nationalist pride in India. In late September, the Indian Army broke precedent and announced for the first time that its troops had crossed into Pakistani-controlled Kashmir and destroyed terrorist bases there in retaliation for an attack by militants on an Indian Army base. The move was widely celebrated in the news media, burnishing the popularity of India’s tough-talking prime minister, Narendra Modi.
Anti-Pakistan sentiment has also reached the big screen after a major Indian cinema group announced that it would no longer screen films that included Pakistani actors.
The Supreme Court ruling was issued in response to a petition by Shyam Narayan Chouksey, 78, who complained, among other things, that the anthem “should not be printed on undesirable objects,†played in an abridged form or “sung before the people who do not understand it.â€
Mr. Chouksey said in an interview that he had been inspired to file the petition by a time, 15 years ago, he found himself to be the only person standing while the national anthem was being played in a cinema.
“The people sitting at the back objected, and said, ‘Let us watch the movie,’ †he said. “It hurt me very badly.â€
The ruling comes slightly more than a month after a man in a wheelchair was struck and harassed by fellow theatergoers for not standing while the national anthem was being played in Panaji, in the western state of Goa.
The man, Salil Chaturvedi, who has played for India in international wheelchair tennis tournaments, complained to the theater’s management. A retelling of the episode was shared widely on social media.
“They didn’t even bother to look at my condition and turned aggressive,†he told The Indian Express. “I said they had no right to touch me, but they wouldn’t listen.â€
Decades ago, Indian movie theaters routinely played the national anthem at the end of a movie, but the audience was often filing out by then, and the practice was discontinued.
News of Wednesday’s ruling inspired sardonic commentary on social media. One person on Twitter recommended that pirated internet torrents should now come with a “national anthem file attached,†and another wrote that food vendors in cinemas should exclaim “Bharat Mata ki jai,†or “Hail Mother India,†when serving popcorn.
