The Supreme Court on Thursday again refused to consider a plea against the The Kerala Story, saying that the petitioner must think about the “money sunk” into the project by the makers of the film and the labour put in by the actors, reported The Hindu.

“You must be very careful about staying films,” Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said. “The market will decide if it [the film] is not up to the mark.”

Directed by Sudipto Sen, The Kerala Story claims to depict the lives of women from the state who had been converted to Islam and recruited by the Islamic State terrorist group. It will be released on May 5.

Initially, the filmmakers claimed that 32,000 women from Kerala had joined the Islamic State but when they were asked to provide evidence, they altered the trailer to say that the movie was a “compilation of the true stories of three young girls”.

On Tuesday, a Supreme Court bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna, which is hearing a group of petitions seeking action against instances of hate speech, had expressed disinclination to consider an interlocutory application seeking a stay on the release of the film. The judges had urged the petitioners to approach the High Court.

Subsequently, a Public Interest Litigation was moved in the Kerala High Court challenging the certificate granted to the movie by the censor board, according to PTI. The plea will be heard on May 5.

On Thursday, Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi and Advocate Shoeb Alam told Chief Justice Chandrachud that the Kerala High Court was not hearing the case before its release date, reported Bar and Bench.

“I only seek indulgence to get hearing today,” he said. “Let me just have my day in court else the penny will drop.”

However, the bench suggested that the petitioner either return to the High Court or file an intervention in the PIL when it is taken up for hearing on Friday.

“The High Courts are not our subordinates,” the Supreme Court said. “They take their own view.”