The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked all cinemas to play the national anthem before a film is screened “for the love of the motherland”, reigniting a debate over whether an increasingly assertive brand of nationalistic pride is stifling civil liberties. The court banned dramatising, abridging or making money from the 52-second-long Jana Gana Mana and said the national flag, the Tricolour, must be displayed on the movie screen when the anthem is played. Moviegoers must stand up and all doors of cinema halls be closed at such times to stop people moving around. Theatre owners have 10 days to implement the order. “These days, people read things that have nothing to do with nationalism but don’t study material related to nationalism,” said a bench headed by justice Dipak Misra.