In the case related to Jana Nayagan, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) filed a caveat in the Supreme Court, as per Bar and Bench. The censor board said that no orders shall be passed in the case until CBFC is heard.
What did the CBFC do
This comes ahead of the anticipation of the producer of Jana Nayagan, KVN Productions, moving the Supreme Court over the Madras High Court Division Bench order related to Jana Nayagan, as per Live Law. It had stayed a single judge’s direction to grant the film a UA certificate.
On January 27, a Division Bench of the Madras High Court allowed the CBFC’s appeal and set aside the Single Judge’s direction to grant a UA certificate to the film. Vijay’s final film, scheduled for release on January 9, was postponed due to a delay in censor certification. After weeks of back-and-forth in court, the film has yet to receive any relief.
What the Madras HC had directed
It read out the complaint filed against Jana Nayagan to the CBFC by a member of the examining committee. The bench observed that the CBFC should’ve been given time to present its case in the single-judge hearing that favoured Jana Nayagan.
The court also observed the absence of a prayer challenging chairperson Prasoon Joshi’s order, and asked the producer to challenge it while proceeding further. Setting aside the single-judge order which directed the CBFC to certify the film, the court remanded the matter to the single judge for fresh consideration.
What had happened
The producer of Jana Nayagan claimed in court that the CBFC’s examining committee watched the film in December and informed them that it would be awarded UA 16+ after 14 cuts. The filmmakers complied with the cuts but did not hear back from the censor board till January 5, when they approached the Madras HC.
The CBFC had claimed that the certification was stalled due to a complaint they received that the film might ‘hurt religious sentiments’ and that certain scenes needed to be cleared by the board.
A single judge heard both sides and directed the CBFC to award certification to the film. However, the censor board approached the HC and obtained a stay order against the verdict. The Supreme Court refused to entertain the producer’s plea and asked him to seek relief at the HC. After a hearing held on January 20, the HC heard both sides of the argument and reserved its verdict till January 27. Three different court cases and 22 days later, Jana Nayagan has yet to be certified.
About Jana Nayagan
Directed by H Vinoth, Jana Nayagan is touted to be Vijay’s final film before he enters politics with his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) party. The film, which is an adaptation of Anil Ravipudi’s Balakrishna-starrer Bhagavanth Kesari, also stars Mamitha Baiju, Bobby Deol and Pooja Hegde in lead roles.
