Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], January 20 : The Madras High Court on Tuesday reserved its order on an appeal by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), challenging a single judge's directive to certify actor and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief Vijay's film 'Jana Nayagan'.
A division bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan was hearing the matter.
This development comes in the wake of the Madras HC's single bench judgement, which directed the CBFC to issue a 'U/A 16+' certificate for the film, providing temporary relief to the producers.
The movie was scheduled for release on January 9th, but the CBFC did not grant clearance, stating it had been referred to the Revising Committee. K Venkat Narayana, the producer, moved the Madras High Court earlier with an urgent plea seeking directions to the CBFC to grant certification.
However, the CBFC moved to a division bench of the High Court, which stayed the single judge's order on January 9.
Earlier, the Supreme Court declined to entertain a plea filed by the makers of the Tamil film seeking a stay on the Madras High Court order that halted the film's certification process.
A bench of Justices Deepankar Datta and A.G. Masih heard the matter and asked the Madras High Court to decide the case by January 20.
The plea was filed by the film's producer, KVN Productions LLP. The producer challenged a Madras High Court division bench order that stayed an earlier direction given to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to certify the film.
'Jana Nayagan' was planned for a Pongal release on January 9 and is being described as Vijay's last film before he fully steps into politics. The actor has recently launched his own political party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK).
The film ran into trouble when the CBFC decided to hold back its certification on the grounds that certain scenes in the movie could potentially hurt religious sentiments.
Reacting to these developments, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader TKS Elangovan accused the BJP of pressuring actor Vijay to side with them politically.
Speaking to ANI, Elangovan said, "They (BJP) are threatening Vijay, and this is well known to the people. They have not given a censor certificate to Jana Nayagan and are deliberately delaying it. Their intention is to pressure Vijay into siding with them. BJP is like a washing machine. They accuse somebody of certain charges, and then if they join them, they drop all charges. They are misusing the governmental agencies for their political ends."
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