A still image from the film ‘Jana Nayakan’ Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
However, fans of actor-turned-politician Vijay are curious to know if his much-awaited last film Jan Naygan The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has refused to provide any information on whether the film will be released before the upcoming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
When contacted to ascertain the authenticity of the information circulating in the film industry that production house KVN Productions LLP has agreed to the reference to the review committee, CBFC Chennai Regional Officer D. Balamurali said, the law prohibits sharing any information related to the certification process.
He said, “I don’t have any information. Even if I have, I can’t reveal it at this stage. All our investigation process is confidential. We can’t reveal anything until the certificate is issued. The law prohibits sharing any such information. The public will know only when the film gets certified. At that time, we will communicate through our portal.”
Censor Certificate Row: A Background
Jan NayganOriginally scheduled to release on January 9, 2026, it was reviewed by the CBFC’s five-member examination committee on December 19, 2025 and the production house claimed to have received a communication on December 22, 2025 stating that the board had come to the conclusion that the film was suitable for a U/A 16+ certificate if certain excerpts were corrected.
Instead of appealing to a nine-member vetting committee for a ‘U’ certificate, the production house accepted the recommendation and completed all the suggested revisions. The edited film was resubmitted to the board on December 24, 2025. However, meanwhile, one of the monitoring committee members sent a complaint to CBFC Chairman Prasun Joshi in Mumbai.
The complaint read: “Dear Sir, I have come to know that the Tamil film Jana Nayakan, which is going to be released all over India, has been cleared by the examination committee in Chennai without following the proper procedure. The film depicts scenes and dialogues in which foreign powers are creating large-scale religious conflict in India which may disturb the religious harmony of this great country.”
It said: “The film has several references to the Army but no defense expert has been included in the inquiry committee to address these issues. There are procedural lapses during the investigation of the film which is a gross violation of the Cinematograph Act and Rules. I am an APM (Advisory Panel Member) member and I have seen the film on December 19, 2025 but my objections were not considered during the investigation of the film. Therefore, we humbly request you to intervene in the process.” “Request and direct the competent authority to re-examine the film.”
After receiving this complaint, the CBFC on December 29, 2025 directed its regional office in Chennai to stop the certification process of ‘Jana Nayakan’ and on January 5, 2026, the production house was informed that the Chairman has decided to send the film to the vetting committee. Chairman’s decision uploaded on E-CinePraman Portal on 6 January.
legal battle
Hours before the decision was uploaded on the portal, KVN Productions approached the Madras High Court with a writ petition seeking a direction to the CBFC to issue a U/A 16+ certificate within 24 hours and received a lunch motion for urgent hearing of its case on the afternoon of the same day.
Justice PT Asha heard the case and directed the CBFC to produce all relevant records related to the certification of Jan Nayakan on January 7. After perusing the record and Additional Solicitor General A.R.L. After hearing the arguments given by. Senior advocate Satish Parasaran, assisted by Sundaresan for CBFC and advocate Vijayan Subramaniam for the producer, reserved his order on January 7.
He accepted the writ petition on January 9 and directed the CBFC to immediately issue a U/A 16+ certificate. Within hours of the same day, the Board appointed Madras High Court Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Srivastava and Justice G. An urgent writ appeal was filed before the First Division Bench of Justice Arul Murugan and an interim stay was granted on the order of the single judge.
Although the production house appealed, the Supreme Court refused to interfere with the interim order. Subsequently, the writ appeal was taken up for final hearing and lengthy arguments took place before the First Division Bench of the Madras High Court on 20 January, when the judges reserved their orders. The division bench, while delivering its verdict on January 27, set aside the single judge’s order on the grounds that it had not given the CBFC an opportunity to file its counter affidavit.
The division bench referred the matter to a single judge for fresh hearing and gave liberty to the production house to amend its prayer by challenging the decision taken by the CBFC chairman on January 6. However, so far, the production house has neither filed a petition in the High Court to amend its prayer nor approached the Supreme Court challenging the Division Bench order.
This led to speculation in the film industry that the production house had agreed to the terms of the review committee. While the production house did not make any announcement public about its decision, the CBFC also refused to comment on the issue citing confidentiality clause.
published – February 02, 2026 06:20 PM IST