In a major relief, Madras High Court Justice PT Asha directed the Censor Board for Film Certification (CBFC) on Friday to grant the U/A 16+ censor certificate for Vijay's much-anticipated film, Jana Nayagan. The film was slated to release in theatres today, but was pushed due to censorship woes. While legal issues surrounding the action film are yet to get fully resolved, a major distribution house in Kerala has revealed that the film will hit theatres on January 14. An official announcement, however, is yet to arrive from KVN Productions which backed the H Vinoth-directed film.
Crisis for Jana Nayagan's release began when it failed to procure a censorship certificate, even until Tuesday. Following this, producer Venkat K Narayana of KVN Productions moved to the Madras High Court. After hearing arguments from both the makers of the film and CBFC, Justice PT Asha announced that a judgment on the case will be passed on Friday. When the case was heard again today, the Justice asked how a film can be sent for re-examination based on a complaint from a single member. Furthermore, she also said, "Once a U/A certificate has been granted to a film, the chairperson’s authority comes to an end."
Following the verdict, Additional Solicitor General ARL Sundaresan, appearing for the CBFC, mentioned before Madras High Court Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava seeking an urgent hearing of the writ appeal against Justice PT Asha’s order in the Jana Nayagan case. The Chief Justice-led bench said that if the petition is filed, the bench will consider hearing it this afternoon. The Censor Board requested that the petition be heard on Monday. The next hearing for the case with the Chief Justice is scheduled to happen at 2.15 pm today.
Jana Nayagan, which marks Vijay's final film outing before his full-fledged entry to politics, also stars Mamitha Baiju, Pooja Hegde, Prakash Raj, Bobby Deol, Gautham Vasudev Menon and Priyamani, among others. On the technical team, Jana Nayagan has music composed by Anirudh Ravichander, camera work by Sathyan Sooryan and editing by Pradeep E Ragav.
