Following the delayed censorship clearance for Vijay's final film Jana Nayagan, there has been much discourse around the role of film censorship in India. Some claim that, over the years, the Censor Board has become stricter or less lenient when it comes to sensitive topics that appear in films. However, A Venkatesh, the director of the 2002 Vijay starrer Bagavathi, said recently that the process was stricter in those days as compared to now. "If you ask me, Censor is liberal now," the filmmaker told Cinema Vikatan in a recent interview. He supported his argument by citing what the Censor Board would object to in the past, including scenes with bloodshed and obscene language. The filmmaker also revealed that most of his films have the A certificate because of the presence of glamorous elements and action.
"Did the Censor Board mistake the A in my name?" the filmmaker quipped. He also disclosed that in the past, films with the A certificate were screened to those aged below 18 year old, even though the audience was not supposed to watch them, in cities and elsewhere. "Parents would watch those films first in the theatre and decide whether they are age appropriate," A Venkatesh revealed, referring to films released decades before. He added that despite the censorship prohibition, the aforesaid audience still manages to watch A-rated films at theatres located outside metropolitan cities.
On the work front, Venkatesh most recently appeared as Sakthi's (Malavika Manoj) father in director Kalaiarasan Thangavel's film Aan Paavam Pollathathu. His last directorial is 2024's Dhil Raja, starring Vijay Sathya and Sherin Shringar in the lead roles.
