In a major setback, Thalapathy Vijay's film Jana Nayagan will not be released on Pongal. The film has yet to receive a censor certificate for the film without which they cannot go ahead with release
Thalapathy Vijay
On Friday morning, the makers of Thalapathy Vijay's Jana Nayagan felt a sigh of relief when the single-judge bench at Madras HC announced the verdict in their favour. Justice PT Asha ordered the CBFC to immediately grant UA censor certificate to the film. However, the CBFC made an appeal in the verdict. The matter was taken up a two-bench judge who put a stay on the early order. The next hearing will take place on January 21.
Madras HC stays order in favour of Jana Nayagan
The Madras High Court on Friday granted stay on the order of a single judge directing CBFC to grant censor censor certificate to actor-turned-politician Vijay-starrer Jana Nayagan.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan granted the stay after Additional Solicitor General ARL Sundaresan and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta (appearing through video conferencing) outlined the grounds for appeal by the CBFC and argued the matter.
The bench will continue hearing the matter on January 21 once it resumes after Pongal holiday.
Madras HC takes up CBFC appeal
The film board immediately preferred an appeal and it was allowed by a Division Bench led by Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava. When the matter came up hearing before the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan, ASG Sundaresan and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta (appearing through video conferencing) outlined the grounds for appeal by the CBFC.
Sundaresan submitted that the single judge has ordered the issuance of a censor certificate forthwith. Although the matter was argued, time was not given for the film board to file a counter-affidavit.
SG Mehta said the chairperson of CBFC had to review the decision to grant the certificate and send the matter to the review panel on the grounds of references to the Army and sentiments related to religion.
The law officers representing the film certification board wanted the appeal to be taken up immediately. Later, the chief justice-led bench agreed to hear the appeal immediately.
Besides Jana Nayagan, which is Vijay's last movie before his full-fledged political plunge, Tamil Nadu eagerly awaits the release of another politically loaded film Parasakthi, which captures the language struggle of the 1960's and said to reflect shades of the Dravidian ideology.
While Parasakthi's screening has been cleared by the censor board, it is not clear if the TVK chief Vijay-starrer movie would hit the screens ahead of the harvest festival Pongal, next week.
(with inputs from agencies)
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