Plea in Kerala HC seeks time-bound certification of movie

Kochi: The production company of the upcoming Malayalam film ‘J S K – Janaki v/s State of Kerala', starring Suresh Gopi, has approached high court seeking a directive to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to issue the censor certificate for the film within a time-bound manner.The petition, filed by Cosmos Entertainments, is scheduled to be considered by the bench of Justice N Nagaresh on Wednesday. The petitioner stated that although the film was submitted for certification on June 12, the CBFC has neither issued the certificate nor raised any formal objection to date. Instead, the delay is allegedly due to informal and oral objections regarding the film's title and the character name ‘Janaki,' despite the CBFC having previously issued a censor certificate for the teaser of the same film.The film is scheduled for worldwide release on June 27, and any further delay in issuing the censor certificate would result in severe and irreparable financial and reputational loss, the petition stated. The petitioner further submitted that, based on news reports, the CBFC has now directed changes to both the film's title and the name of the titular character, ‘Janaki,' citing that it refers to the Hindu goddess ‘Sita'. This, the petitioner argued, reflects inconsistency and arbitrariness in the CBFC's stand, as no such concerns were raised at the time of certifying the teaser.