Madras High Court has reserved its verdict on the Jana Nayagan certification row, hinting Thalapathy Vijay's probably last film is unlikely to release on January 9 as planned by producers. Interestingly, the censor row coincides with the CBI summons to Vijay over the Karur stampede.
The High Court, hearing a plea moved by Jana Nayagan's producers KVN Productions seeking a censor certificate for the film, reserved its verdict after raising pertinent questions to the film certification body. Hearing the matter, the bench led by Justice P.T. Asha asked, "The only ground on which you want to review the movie is based on the complaint, which on the face of it is not maintainable because all objections raised in the complaint have already been dealt with."
. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) A.R.L. Sundaresan, appearing for CBFC, argued that the chairperson of CBFC is empowered to order a review of a movie even after it has been viewed by the examining committee. He said the movie has used certain emblems of the defence forces, and hence, experts from the defence forces ought to have been consulted. He also sought four weeks' time to file a detailed counter-affidavit to the writ petition filed by the production house.
The court also asked the certification body why the movie's makers were not informed about the review while it had already informed producers that they were unable to upload the acknowledgement, Live Law reported. The CBFc said in court that "it does not have any malicious intention and is making a genuine effort."
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The court asked the CBFC how it can say the movie should be reviewed while on December 22, 2025, the chairperson had informed the producer that the board had decided to give 'UA' certificate to the movie, subject to modifications and incisions.
Appearing for the producers, Senior Advocate Satish Parasaran, said a film certification committee member can only make recommendations, but not raise a complaint. The counsel also argued that the film's makers were entirely kept in the dark about the review decision. "There has to be a distinction between recommendation and complaint. Even if one of the members has objections, it is still 4:1. It's a majority decision. How can that be a reason for sending it for review," the publication reported, quoting the makers.
He also contended that the CBFC authorities did not understand the cinematograph rules properly. “How can a so-called complaint by just one out of the five members of the examining committee become a reason to set aside the recommendation to issue U/A 16+ certificate,” Prasaran asked the court.
- with inputs from Lakshmi Subramanian.
