Madras High Court reserves order on CBFC appeal against Vijay’s final film over U/A certificate

The Madras High Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on the censor board’s appeal against the single judge’s direction to grant U/A certificate to Vijay starrer Jana Nayagan. A bench comprising Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arun Murugan heard the appeal after the Supreme Court on January 15 asked the Madras HC to decide on the plea on January 20 and reserved its order.

The high court had refused to take cognizance of the plea filed by the producer of Jana Nayagan and had challenged the Madras High Court’s interim order, which remained a single judge order, granting censorship board permission to the film. On January 9, a division bench of the Madras High Court reversed its single judge order directing the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to immediately issue censor certificate to Jana Nayagan, leaving the fate of Vijay’s film, noted for its political overtones, in limbo.

Vijay recently launched his political party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). Jana Nayagan, widely publicized as Vijay’s last film before entering full-blown politics, was scheduled to release on Pongal on January 9. However, the film faced last-minute hurdles as the CBFC did not issue certification on time.

Directed by H. Vinoth, Jana Nayagan also stars Pooja Hegde, Bobby Deol, Prakash Raj, Mamitha Baiju, Gautham Vasudev Menon and Priyamani in lead roles. The high-octane political action drama focuses on a common man’s rise as a people’s leader against systemic corruption. The film, backed by KVN Productions under the direction of producer Venkat K. Narayana, is titled Jan Neta in Hindi. Its release was delayed indefinitely due to censorship issues.

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