3 min readMar 9, 2026 02:54 PM IST
For a film that was originally meant to release on January 9, every fresh delay to Jana Nayagan feels like one more door closing. The latest setback came today, March 9, when the CBFC’s Revising Committee screening of the Vijay-starrer had to be postponed after one of its members fell ill. The screening, which had been scheduled for 2 PM, was seen as a decisive step that could finally clear the path for the film’s theatrical release.
According to reports, the producers, KVN Productions, had received an official email from the CBFC Revising Committee confirming the March 9 screening. Had it gone ahead without issue, certification was expected to be granted shortly after, allowing the team to finalise a release date. That plan now stands deferred, with no immediate word on when the screening will be rescheduled.
However, sources from the industry told SCREEN that the date for the screening is pushed to March 17.
To understand why this matters, it helps to go back to the beginning. KVN Productions submitted the film to the CBFC on December 18, 2025. Four days later, the examining committee suggested a UA 16+ certificate with 14 cuts and modifications. After implementing those changes, the producers expected a certificate. Instead, they were informed on January 5, just four days before the film’s planned Pongal release, that the film had been referred to the Revising Committee following a complaint from a single member of the examining committee.
The complaint alleged that certain scenes could hurt religious sentiments and raised objections to the portrayal of the armed forces. A separate concern was also raised about the absence of a defence expert during the initial review. What followed was a month-long legal battle. The producers approached the Madras High Court, which initially directed the CBFC to issue a certificate. The CBFC challenged that order, obtained a stay, and the matter went back and forth through the courts until KVN Productions ultimately chose to withdraw their writ petition in February and pursue the revising committee route instead.
The Madras High Court’s division bench had not been entirely sympathetic to the producers’ position either. The Chief Justice’s bench criticised the single judge for issuing an order without granting adequate time to the CBFC to respond. “Defaming religious symbols cannot be tolerated,” the Chief Justice had remarked, while sending the case back for fresh hearing.
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With the legal route exhausted and the revising committee route now the only path forward, the stakes for today’s screening had been high. Reports had suggested that if the process proceeded as anticipated, certification could have been issued within two weeks, potentially opening up a release window ahead of the Tamil Nadu assembly elections.
That window is now narrowing further. The film was described as Vijay’s final screen appearance before he transitions fully into politics as the chief of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, the party he founded in 2024. Canada-based distributor York Cinemas had already announced that the film would not release before April 30, and refunded advance bookings. An election-season release was already a complicated proposition, and a postponed certification review only tightens the timeline.
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