If you were counting down the days to see Vijay’s final movie on February 20, I’ve got some disappointing news. It looks like we’re going to have to wait at least another three months to see Jana Nayagan on the big screen. This means the movie won’t be out in time for the Tamil Nadu elections like everyone hoped.The news broke because a major distributor in Canada, York Cinemas, has already started giving people their money back for tickets they pre-ordered. The big hold-up is that the movie hasn’t been officially cleared by the censors (CBFC) yet, and things are moving pretty slowly behind the scenes.
So, what’s the holdup?It’s been a bit of a legal rollercoaster. Basically, the filmmakers and the censor board have been fighting in court for a month. At first, the board said they’d give the movie a “U/A” rating if some scenes were changed—specifically parts they thought might offend religious groups or the military. The producers made those changes, but the board still wouldn’t hand over the certificate, wanting a second committee to look at it instead.Things got messy in court: one judge told the board to just release the film already, but then a higher court stepped in and said the producers were rushing things too much. Just a few days ago, the production team decided to drop their lawsuit entirely. They’re now going to try to work things out directly with the censor board’s review team instead of fighting it out in front of a judge.
It’s a bummer, but for now, we just have to be patient and wait for the new release date!
