Film censorship in India is under renewed scrutiny following a certification delay for Vijay’s ‘Jana Nayagan,’ escalating to the Madras High Court. Filmmakers like Sandeep Reddy Vanga and Ram Gopal Varma have voiced strong opinions, advocating for industry professionals to oversee censorship and questioning the board’s relevance in the digital age.
The debate around film censorship in India has resurfaced sharply this week as Thalapathy Vijay’s Jana Nayagan struggled to get clearance from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) which ended up the matter reaching the Madras High Court. In a moment like this director of films like Arjun Reddy, Kabir Singh and Animal, Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s comment about the censor began to go viral on social media.During his conversation with trade analyst Komal Nahata, Vanga said that the censor board should be run by film folks. He said, “I feel censor board should be controlled by senior directors, retired directors, film director – film industry people rather than someone who doesn’t understand the nuance of filmmaking”The comment has tapped into a long-standing grievance within the film fraternity: that key certification decisions are often made without practical grounding in filmmaking, storytelling, or audience behavior. The renewed attention also arrives amid a high-profile certification controversy. Vijay’s Jana Nayagan, the actor’s final film before entering electoral politics, was scheduled to release on January 9. Instead, its certification was delayed due to its UA approval being withheld. The matter escalated to the Madras High Court, ultimately forcing the CBFC to issue the certificate with instructions for immediate compliance. Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma also weighed in on social media, taking aim at the broader relevance of the censor board in the streaming-era ecosystem. Taking to Twitter, he wrote: “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 todayIt has long outlived it’s purpose, but it’s being kept alive out of laziness to debate it’s relevance now , and it is the film industry as a whole which is mainly responsible for this”. He added , ” We live in a time where a 12-year old with a phone can watch a terrorist execution filmed on a GoPro, a 9-year-old can stumble upon hardcore porn, and a bored retiree can binge extremist propaganda, indulge in conspiracy theories , from anywhere in the world, uncut, uncensored, algorithmically pushed. All of it is available instantly, anonymously, and without a gatekeeper”.Sandeep Reddy Vanga is currently working in Spirit with Prabhas.
