CHENNAI: ‘Jana Nayagan’, actor-politician Vijay’s much-hyped latest – and probably last – film will not be released on January 9 as planned, as the Madras High Court reserved its order on its producer’s plea seeking censor certificate on that day.
Before reserving orders after concluding hearings on Wednesday, Justice PT Asha posed a series of questions to the Central Board of Film Certification and observed it all appeared unusual.
When the hearing on KVN Productions’ petition resumed on Wednesday, Additional Solicitor General ARL Sundaresan said one of the members of the examining committee flagged 14 scenes. Hence, the censor certificate was kept in abeyance and the film was referred to the review committee.
At this point, the judge raised a series of questions — whether the complaint by a member of the examining committee was maintainable, why it was sent for review after deciding to grant a U/A certificate, and why the production company was not informed about it. Everything appears unusual, Justice Asha observed.
The ASG said if the chairperson of the board was not satisfied with the recommendations of the examining committee, she/he has the authority to refer the film to a review panel. In this case, certain insignia used by the armed forces has allegedly been used in the film, due to which it is necessary to obtain opinion from security officers.
Appearing for the producer, senior counsel Satish Parasaran and counsel Vijayan Subramanian argued that a member of the examining committee may only submit a recommendation and not a complaint.
“Four of the five members had recommended the grant of the certificate. When the majority is in favour, how can the film be referred for scrutiny merely for one member’s objection,” they asked.