Madras HC directs CBFC to issue censor certificate to 'Jana Nayagan,' film board to appeal

Chennai: The Madras High Court on Friday directed the CBFC to grant censor certificate to actor-turned-politician Vijay’s upcoming film 'Jana Nayagan', and the film board has said it would appeal against the direction and has sought the court's nod for it.

The high court set aside the censor' board's directive through a letter dated January 6, referring the matter to the Review Committee.

Allowing the plea of KVN Productions, which has produced the film, seeking a direction to CBFC authorities to issue a censor certificate, Justice PT Asha said that once the board had decided to grant certificate, the Chairperson had no power to send the matter to the Review Committee.

Soon after the judgment was pronounced, Additional Solicitor General A R L Sundaresan made a mention before Chief Justice M M Shrivastava to permit the Censor Board to file an appeal against the single judge order.

He requested the court take it up immediately.

While Tamil Nadu eagerly awaited the release of the politically loaded films 'Jana Nayagan' and 'Parasakthi' (which captures the language struggle and said to reflect shades of the Dravidian ideology), it is not clear if the films would hit the screens ahead of the harvest festival Pongal, next week.

In her order, Justice Asha said the censor board had decided to grant a censor certificate to the film and sent a communication to the producer on December 22, 2025.

Once the board had taken a decision and sent a communication, the Chairperson has no power to send the matter to the Review Committee based on a subsequent complaint by one of the panel members.

Therefore, the chairperson had exercised his power without jurisdiction, the judge added.

The judge said exercising powers under Article 226 of the Constitution, the court has powers to mould the relief sought by setting aside the letter dated January 6, by which the matter was referred to the Review Committee.

The judge said the argument of ASG Sundaresan that the petitioner can only challenge the letter dated January 6 and cannot file a petition seeking issuance of mandamus (direction), cannot be sustained.

As for ASG Sundaresan's request to permit the CBFC to file an appeal against the single judge order, the Chief Justice said orally: "You file the appeal and inform us, we will consider your request."

While the producers had planned to release the movie on January 9, it had to approach the High Court after it was alleged that a complaint had been lodged against the yet-to-be released movie over hurting religious sentiments.

Subsequently, after hearing the matter, the HC had on January 7 reserved its order on the petition seeking a direction to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to give a censor certificate under 'UA 16+' category to the much-anticipated film.

On January 6, when the plea came up for hearing, Justice P T Asha had orally asked the CBFC to produce on January 7, a copy of the "complaint" that claimed the film "hurts religious sentiments."

The filmmakers had submitted that the movie had been referred for "review" after an initial recommendation for U/A certification.

Even though a release date has been fixed for the film as January 9, it can only proceed legally, the Censor Board had told the court.

Directed by H Vinoth, the film "Jana Nayagan" stars actors Vijay, Prakash Raj, Pooja Hegde, Mamitha Baiju, among others.

The film team, having completed all work, sent it for censorship on December 18.

Subsequently, on December 19, the censor board that viewed the film reportedly advised the removal of some scenes and muting of some dialogues.

Even after changes suggested by the censor board members were made, the censor certificate has still not been issued, the petitioner movie production house had submitted.