MUMBAI, Aug. 1 -- The Bombay high court on Thursday questioned the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) over its delay in certifying Ajey: The Untold Story of a Yogi, a film purportedly based on Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath's life. The court also took note of the fact that the film draws from a published book that has been in the public domain for years without incident. A division bench of justices Revati Mohite Dere and Dr Neela Gokhale was hearing a petition filed by the film's producers, Samrat Cinematics India Pvt Ltd, challenging the CBFC's refusal to certify the movie. The film is said to be inspired by Shantanu Gupta's 2017 biography of Adityanath, The Monk Who Became Chief Minister. The court issued a notice to the CBFC and directed it to respond by Friday. The petitioners told the court that they first applied for certification on June 5. Under the Cinematograph Act, 1952 and the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 2024, the board is required to process such applications within a week and schedule a screening within the next 15 days. However, more than a month had passed without any communication, they said. Calling the delay "arbitrary, unreasonable, and unexplained," the producers alleged that the CBFC had stalled the process deliberately, despite the film being slated for release on August 1 across over 1,500 cinema halls....