Hurting Religious Sentiments And Army-related References: Scenes That Became A Hurdle In Jana Nayagan's Clearance From CBFC

The release of the much-awaited TVK chief Vijay starrer multi-lingual film Jana Nayagan has been postponed, pending CBFC certification in India. On Friday, 9 January, the Madras High Court ruled in favour of the film’s makers and directed the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to issue a U/A 16+ certificate. Soon after, the CBFC challenged the ruling and sought a fresh review of the film. Following this appeal, the court temporarily stayed its earlier order. Here is what the CBFC stated about the film.

Why Thalapathy Vijay’s Jana Nayagan triggered CBFC complaint?

According to Bollywood Hungama, the CBFC told the producers that the “competent authority” had chosen to refer the film to a Revising Committee after receiving a complaint over its content. The complaint flagged by a member of the Examining committee concerns hurting religious sentiments and the portrayal of the armed forces in the film.

The complaint also highlighted objections to certain scenes and dialogues. As per Bollywood Hungama, it is alleged that the film includes “visuals and dialogues”, implying that foreign powers are fuelling large-scale religious conflict in India. The complainant argued that this could potentially disrupt religious harmony. It also cited several references to the Army and claimed that the Examining Committee did not include a defence expert despite the presence of such material.

The order also reportedly identified another point of contention related to visuals of the National Flag. The court noted that authorities had already directed the removal of this portion during the initial examination, and the filmmakers had complied.

As per Bollywood Hungama, it was observed that several issues in his complaint repeated objections he had already raised earlier, which the filmmakers later addressed through cuts. The judge described the complaint as an ‘afterthought’ and ‘motivated’, and cautioned that such reversals could weaken the sanctity of the CBFC process.

The court ruled that the Chairperson’s authority to refer a film to a Revising Committee ended once the Board accepted the Examining Committee’s recommendation, which it communicated on December 22. It therefore held that the referral decision uploaded on January 6 lacked jurisdiction.

The court earlier noted, as reported by Live Law, that the producers of the Vijay-starrer appeared to have created unnecessary urgency around the release date, which may have put pressure on the court. The matter will return for hearing on January 21, leaving uncertainty over whether the much-anticipated film will reach cinemas this month.

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