A poster of the film Manushi
Photo Credit: X/@Gopinainar
The Madras High Court on Wednesday (June 4, 2025) surprised how the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) Vatry can deny the Certification of Maran-made film Manushi Without specifying objectionable scenes, visual, dialogue, music, or other materials, which must be edited before public screening.
Justice n. Anand Venkatesh said that until the objectionable parts of the film were written by the CBFC, the producer would have hit in the dark without knowing which parts of the film need to edit and face heavy monetary losses, as the entire film was already shot.
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The judge, a lawyer for the senior panel of the Central Government, gave A.K. Kumaraguru was instructed to seek instructions from CBFC by 16 June, which included the parts that required editing. In the option, the officer could watch the film with the manufacturer and indicate it to objectionable parts, the judge said.
“Making a film is a part of the right to speech and expression. Thus, filmmakers are already suffering from a lot of difficulties. You cannot deny certification for an entire film without specifying objectionable parts and expect a filmmaker to shoot the entire film,” the judge told the lawyer.
When he was told that the screening committee (an appellate body) of CBFC along with the examination committee had recommended the film to prove the film, the judge misused the orders passed by the board and found that he had given five reasons to refuse the certification. Manushi,
The reason cited by CBFC in the rejection order was that the film went against the integrity of the state; It had scenes that were contempt; It discredits government policies; It depicts the stereotypes leading to north/south partition; And these were many scenes that were against the interests of the country.
“These findings are not subjective, but are based on objective facts, which are different from different scenes of the film. Therefore, if all the petitioners need to edit those parts, they should be informed of the specific parts that require such editing,” and demanded a reaction of the CBFC by June 11, 2025.
Manushi Vetri Maaran’s Grassroot is produced and directed by the film company Aram Fame Gopi Nanner. The film stars Andrea Jeremiah in the lead roles, which plays the leading roles played by actors Nasir, Tamiz, Hakim Shah and Balaji Sakartwell.
The trailer released by actor Vijay Sethupathi in April 2024 was complimented by the film composer Ilaiyaraja, as acclaimed composer Ilaiyaraja, as it was shown to be a woman’s moving scenes related to the custodial torture of a woman to be a terrorist.
Published – June 04, 2025 01:43 pm IST
