The Honorable Supreme Court of India, on a recent interim order, have asked all cinemas to play the National Anthem before a film is screened “for the love of the motherland”.

While, the purpose of expressing the love to the nation is taken in good spirits, the enforcement has made it counter productive. Millions of moviegoers are obeying the court directive with varying thoughts. Some with fear, some with respect, and a large percentage confused about it's relevance and logic of enforcing out of a blue moon. Few overly patriotic people are taking the law into their hands to implement it themselves creating a law and order situation at some places. It is creating an unnecessary divisionism amongst the people who are innately polite and nationalist. It's unfortunate to see that the National Anthem is becoming a reason for conflict in the country, whereas there was no disrespect, whatsoever, when it was getting played at the appropriate instances all these years from Independence.

A cinema ticket is purchased for enjoying the entertainment and ideally it should stay there. Cinemas, many of them part of shopping malls these days, are primarily commercial entities that sell entertainment. Displaying the image of the National Flag on screen and playing a digitally recorded National Anthem as a package of a movie is only amounting to degrade the National Symbols.

The current order of the Honorable Supreme Court is disproportionate to it's previous judgments on the same subject. Kindly revise the order and save our national prides, the National Anthem and the Flag, from being degraded as a part of commercial commodity.