The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to entertain a plea filed by the makers of the Tamil film Jana Nayagan, starring actor Thalapathy Vijay, seeking a stay on a Madras High Court order that stalled the film’s certification.
A bench of Justices Deepankar Datta and A.G. Masih asked the Madras High Court to decide the matter by January 20.
The plea arose from an interim order of the Madras High Court that put on hold the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) clearance for the film. The interim order had reversed an earlier decision by a single bench which was in favour of the film’s release.
Challenging this, the makers approached the Supreme Court, seeking relief against the high court’s order halting the certification.
The Supreme Court, however, declined to directly intervene and advised the producers to pursue their remedy before the appropriate division bench of the Madras High Court.
Earlier, a single judge bench of the high court had permitted the film to be certified and directed the censor board to grant it a U/A 16+ rating forthwith. That order was subsequently set aside by a division bench of the high court after the CBFC filed an appeal. The makers then challenged the division bench’s decision before the Supreme Court, seeking permission for the film’s certification.
Directed by H Vinoth, Jana Nayagan also stars Pooja Hegde, Bobby Deol, Mamitha Baiju, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Prakash Raj, and Priyamani. Music for the film has been composed by Anirudh Ravichander, while Venkat K Narayana has produced the project.
The film is billed as Thalapathy Vijay’s final cinematic outing before he steps into a full-time career in politics. It was initially slated to release on January 9.