A scene from the film ‘Jana Nayakan’. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Madras High Court on Tuesday (February 10, 2026) granted permission for the production of the film starring actor Vijay. Jan Naygan To withdraw a writ petition filed on January 6, 2026, seeking direction to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to issue a U/A 16+ certificate to the film within 24 hours.
Justice PT Asha dismissed the writ petition after KVN Productions LLP lawyer Vijayan Subramanian filed a letter before the High Court registry, stating that the production firm has decided to accept the CBFC chairman’s reference to the nine-member revised committee.
The court’s permission to withdraw the petition has removed the legal hurdles coming in the way of the CBFC to send the film to the review committee for a fresh consideration as to whether the film should be given U (universal), U/A (under adult guidance), or A (adults only) certification.
The film’s release was originally scheduled for January 9, but was delayed by more than a month due to litigation. The producer submitted the film for certification under the urgent process on December 18, 2025, and a five-member screening committee viewed the film on December 19, 2025.
The producer was informed on December 22, 2025 that the screening committee had recommended U/A 16+ certification subject to certain cuts. The production house accepted the recommendation, completed all the suggested portions and submitted the edited film to the CBFC on December 24, 2025.
Meanwhile, one of the members of the inquiry committee sent a complaint to the CBFC chairman in Mumbai over the absence of an expert on army-related issues despite there being several references to the armed forces in the film. Therefore, the CBFC Chairman stopped the process on December 29, 2025.
On January 5, 2026, the production house was informed that the CBFC Chairman has decided to send the film to a nine-member review committee for reconsideration. The decision was uploaded on the e-Cinepraman portal on January 6, 2026, after the production house approached the high court with the writ petition.
Justice Asha, after granting the lunch motion, heard the case on January 6, 2026 and directed the CBFC to submit all the records by January 7, 2026. After perusing the records and hearing counsel representing both the parties, the judge reserved his order for the day and posted it for January 9, 2026.
The single judge directed the CBFC to immediately issue the U/A 16+ certificate. However, the CBFC took its order on the appeal within a few hours and on the same day a bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Srivastava and Justice G. Received an interim stay from Arul Murugan’s first division bench.
The Supreme Court also refused to interfere in the interim order. Subsequently, the Division Bench took up the writ appeal of CBFC for final hearing and set aside the order of the single judge on January 27, 2026. However, the judges sent the writ petition to a single judge for fresh hearing after giving the CBFC an opportunity to file a counter affidavit.
As per the Division Bench order, the production firm decided not to pursue litigation and instead agreed to reference to the Revision Committee. To clear all the legal hurdles, the producer decided to withdraw the writ petition and submitted a letter to the High Court Registry through his lawyer.
published – February 10, 2026 11:38 am IST