In yet another setback to Vijay starrer Jana Nayagan (Tamil), the Madras high court on January 20 reserved its order in an appeal filed by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), challenging a single judge order directing it to give the film a ‘UA 16+’ certificate. Although the court heard the matter in detail on January 20, it did not pronounce a verdict.
The film along with its dubbed versions — Jan Neta in Hindi and Jana Nayakudu in Telugu — were initially scheduled for release on January 9 on the occasion of Pongal. But it had to be postponed because it failed to secure court relief amid an inordinate delay in obtaining a CBFC certificate.
Additional solicitor general A.R.L. Sundaresan, appearing for the CBFC, reportedly pointed out that the CBFC was not given sufficient time to file a counter-affidavit. He also informed the court that the communication sent to the producers on January 6, informing them that the film was being referred to a revising committee for review, was not challenged by them.
Senior advocate Satish Parasaran, appearing on behalf of the producers (KVN Productions), told the court that the CBFC’s Madras regional office had already communicated the decision to grant ‘UA’ certificate to the film based on a unanimous recommendation by the examining committee and hence the film could not have been referred to the revising committee. He added that if, as was being mentioned, the decision to refer the film to a revising committee was taken based on the complaint of one member of the examining committee, it indicated that the CBFC was now carrying out the decision of the minority rather than the majority.