Marina Puratchi finally gets clearance

Marina Puratchi, a film based on the protests against the ban on jallikattu, has finally been certified U by the censor board, upon the insistence of the high court order which was passed on January 7.

The film, directed by filmmaker Pandiraj's former associate MS Raj, was denied certification by both the primary censor board and the revising committee without citing a reason. About the judgment, the director says, "For the first time in the history of India film industry, a high court has ordered the censor board to certify a banned film, surpassing the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal procedure." He complains that the central government purposely pressurised the censor board to delay the certification of the film till the last day of the elections. "They were very particular not to project the fact that the central government was against jallikattu and as a result, we had to remove the word 'central government' seventeen times in the film."

He alleges that the entire delay in the certification was initiated by the animal rights organisation PETA,  "We all know that jallikattu was banned because of PETA and the protest was against them. But, the committee asked me to remove all references to them. We fought a lot for this and managed to retain them in the final cut."

Marina Puratchi, which was screened across eleven countries, including Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, and Canada, during the ban period in India, will be released globally by Jesu Sundram Maran, through his banner J Studios.