CHENNAI: The Supreme Court on Thursday (January 15) dismissed the petition filed by the producer of Jana Nayagan, starring actor-politician Vijay, seeking CBFC clearance.

A bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Augustine George Masih declined to entertain the plea, observing that the Madras High Court’s Division Bench is already set to hear the matter on January 20.

The petition by KVN Productions LLP challenged the Madras High Court division bench’s stay on a single judge’s direction to immediately certify Jana Nayagan, with Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi arguing that release dates are routinely announced before CBFC clearance and that over 5,000 theatres had already been booked.

Justice Dipankar Datta noted the unusually swift disposal by the single bench and observed that since the CBFC chairperson’s January 6 order was not challenged and the division bench is set to hear the case on January 20, there was no need for Supreme Court intervention now.

Jana Nayagan, directed by H Vinoth and starring Vijay along with Pooja Hegde and Mamitha Baiju, is touted as Vijay’s final film before his full-fledged political entry. The film, slated for a Pongal release on January 9, ran into trouble after the CBFC did not issue certification on time. A member of the examining committee had alleged that the film hurt religious sentiments and depicted the armed forces negatively, and raised these objections with the CBFC chairperson.

On January 9, Justice P T Asha had set aside the dissenting CBFC chairperson’s decision to refer the film to a revising committee, holding that the chairperson had no authority to do so once certification was underway. The division bench, comprising Chief Justice M M Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan, stayed that ruling on an appeal by the CBFC, noting that the board’s January 6 letter referring the film to the revising committee was never challenged and that the CBFC had not been given adequate time to respond.

Granting a stay, the bench had issued notice to the producer and posted the matter for further hearing on January 20.

(With Bureau inputs)