Vijay's farewell film, 'Jana Nayagan,' faces indefinite postponement due to certification delays and a Madras High Court interim stay. Filmmakers like Mari Selvaraj and Ram Gopal Varma have voiced strong concerns over censorship, deeming it unjust and outdated. The uncertainty impacts producers and workers, potentially derailing release plans.

Vijay’s farewell film ‘Jana Nayagan’ is indefinitely postponed as the film awaits certification from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). The delay follows the interim stay granted by the Madras High Court, hours after a single judge ordered the CBFC to grant UA clearance.

The film fraternity has come together and expressed their concern on censorship row.

Mari Selvaraj calls it ‘injustice’

Ace filmmaker Mari Selvaraj voiced his opinion in Vijay’s ‘Jana Nayagan’ censor row and urged his fellow filmmakers to ‘raise a loud voice’ against such ‘injustice’. He pointed at the trend of ‘spreading fear’ over artistic expression, and why it should not be encouraged. He framed the row as a test case for how the state deals with films revolving around politics.

Thalapathy Vijay’s Jana Nayagan Gets Morning Relief, Evening Setback — Next Hearing Jan 21

Ram Gopal Varma questioned the relevance of CBFC

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma didn't mince words while expressing how 'outdated' the Censor Board is. “Not in the context of just @Actor_Vijay’s #JanaNayagan ‘s censor issues, but in an overall manner, it is truly foolish to think that the censor board is still relevant today. It has long outlived its purpose, but it’s being kept alive out of laziness to debate its relevance now, and it is the film industry as a whole which is mainly responsible for this,” he said in a post on X.

“Age classification makes sense. Warnings of the content make sense. Censorship does not,” he added. RGV also pointed out how the world has moved on to platforms beyond theatrical release. “The world has already moved on to so many platforms which are unfiltered and unsupervised and so the painful question is whether the authorities have the courage to admit that they are obsolete, and more than that, whether we as a film industry collectively have the will to question them on the same.

So instead of raising this topic once in a while over a particular film, the fight should be with that particular system of thinking which created the censor board.