After stalled by CBFC for 3 months, Vijay's Jana Nayagan leaked online

CHENNAI: In a Friday ‘release’ that few expected, actor and TVK president Vijay’s much-anticipated big-budget film, ‘Jana Nayagan’, the release which has been stalled for nearly three months due to objections raised by the censor board, was leaked online.

Initially, the climax of the Rs 500-crore hit the internet, triggered frenzied downloads and furious speculations. Soon, portions of the film started surfacing. Within a few hours, the entire film, that too in HD quality, was leaked on the internet.

As the leak came with less than two weeks to go for the State Assembly elections, many in the industry alleged that this was a targeted attack against Vijay, who is challenging the ruling DMK and principal Opposition AIADMK.

Going a step ahead, TVK leader Aadhav Arjuna squarely blamed Union Minister of State L Murugan and Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin for the leak.

The usually reticent superstar Rajinikanth said the leak was shocking and painful.

“Film associations must raise their voice against this, and the government must identify those responsible and impose severe punishment. Such crimes must not be allowed to continue in the future,” he said.

Meanwhile, the production house, KVN Productions, issued a public notice through its legal counsel, Vijayan Subramanian, confirming that "certain scenes have been illegally accessed and disseminated".

It added that the leak could not have come from the studio.

Adding an almost satirical twist to the development, Tamil MV, a notorious Tamil film piracy site based in Europe put out a statement distancing itself from the leak, and added that it won’t share (leak) ‘Jana Nayagan’ on its website because it was not yet released in theatres.

‘Jana Nayagan’ has been in the news for the wrong reasons, after its scheduled Pongal release was stalled due to objections raised by the Central Board of Film Certification.

Vijay loyalists alleged political motive behind this, blaming the BJP for trying to arm twist the popular actor.