Actor-politician Vijay’s fans have been left disheartened. The uncertainty around the release of Jana Nayagan has left his fans and followers in deep distress, with the Central Bureau of Film Certification (CBFC) refusing to issue a censor certificate and the Madras High Court adjourning the case to January 9, the day of release of the highly anticipated film.
Said to be his last screen appearance before getting into a full-fledged political career, the trailer shows Jana Nayagan completely laced with political punchlines. Playing the hero of the film, Vijay is seen delivering high-pitched dialogues in the trailer released on January 3.
Playing as Thalapathy Vetri Kondan (TVK), the same as his party initials, Vijay replies to a child asking him if he is a Superman, “I am just an ordinary man. But I have heard people say that whatever I do is super.”
The trailer ends with a single punch, saying, “I am coming.” This refers to Vijay’s active political plunge in the run-up to the election.
While the CBFC has made its arguments in the Madras High Court, Vijay’s fans allege a political conspiracy as he is opposing both the ruling BJP in Delhi and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu. “The entire country will understand our power if the movie does not release on Friday,” says Ranjith Kumar, a hardcore Vijay fan, who is also part of the TVK.
Ranjith and his friends are awaiting the release. “Whenever it releases, I will watch the first day first show,” he says. But, a few Vijay fans are comparing the delay in CBFC issuing the censor certificate with that of M.G. Ramachandran’s (MGR) Ulagam Sutrum Valiban, which faced trouble in 1973. MGR was apparently expelled from the DMK when Ulagam Sutrum Valiban ran into trouble. Equating this, Vijay’s supporters have been accusing the DMK of conspiring to stop the release of Jana Nayagan.
But this is not the first time a Vijay film has faced trouble. When Jayalalithaa was in power, his film Thalaivaa courted trouble as the posters had the tagline, “Its time to lead.” Vijay and his father, S.A. Chandrashekar, called on Jayalalithaa, and then Vijay later appealed in an emotional video to Jayalalithaa to help ensure the film’s release.
In 2012, Thuppakki faced trouble as Muslim groups opposed the film for portraying them as terrorists. Later, director A.R. Murugadoss and producer Kalaipuli S Thanu issued a public apology and agreed to remove the controversial scenes. In 2017, his Mersal was opposed by the BJP as it had a critical take on GST and medical malpractice, and so was his Sarkar in 2018, in which the villain’s name was Komalavalli, thus angering then All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) ministers.
But now the Jana Nayagan trouble is more of an emotional cum political issue to his supporters than a mere censorship issue. According to TVK insiders, the last-minute trouble given by the CBFC to Jana Nayagan was a planned move, as the BJP fears that the film will add strength to Vijay’s popularity in the state ahead of the elections. But the trouble for the film has come at a time when the actor-leader has been summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for questioning in the Karur stampede case, which killed 41 people. “Vijay Anna knows how to handle all this. The BJP fears him like the DMK here,” said one of the TVK leaders.
However, there is a different story to the whole CBI episode, which will unfold on January 12. “It was a mistake. It came up only because we went to the Supreme Court against the state, which entrusted the investigation to the state police,” say the TVK insiders. TVK’s three office bearers - Bussy N. Anand, Aadhav Arjuna and C.T.R. Nirmal Kumar - appeared before the CBI, which commenced its probe on October 13, after an interim order issued by the Supreme Court. These three leaders, including the Karur West district secretary of TVK, Mathiazhagan, were summoned twice by the CBI - once in Karur, the scene of the crime, and second in Delhi. They were questioned for more than nine hours in Delhi. Apart from the office bearers, Vijay’s campaign van driver too was summoned and questioned.
The questions to the office bearers were around the security arrangements for the rally, the crowd management, the chain of command for the rally and also the letters sent to the district administration seeking permission.
And now, after the district administration, the TVK office bearers and the campaign bus driver, it is Vijay’s turn, which obviously has to happen as he was the hero of the Karur rally on September 27. “We knew he would be questioned. But we thought the case would be dragged beyond the election,” a TVK source said. Sources said that CBI will question him on the material that was gathered from the scene of crime, the evidence it had gathered by questioning his party functionaries, the video footage recovered, the safety protocols that were followed and also based on the confession statements given by his campaign van driver.
When THE WEEK tried to reach out to the TVK camp for comments on the CBI summons, off the record comments confirmed that Vijay has consulted his legal team. “It seems like an onslaught on our leader, only to create a setback in his political career. The CBI summons and the CBFC denying censor for Jana Nayagan are only to make him step back,” a TVK leader told THE WEEK. However, insiders have it that Vijay is all likely to skip the CBI summons on Monday. In all likely, Vijay’s legal team will represent him on Monday in Delhi at the CBI headquarters and ask for the questioning place to be shifted to Chennai.
And, be it the CBFC trouble or the CBI enquiry, sources say Vijay will not express his opinion as it might make him ruffle feathers with the ruling BJP in Delhi.
