Thug Life’s ban in Karnataka: Vijay’s new movie 'Jana Nayagan' in trouble?

Chennai: Jana Nayagan (People’s Hero), supposedly the last movie of actor Vijay before he takes a complete plunge into politics, has been caught in the Thug Life crossfire. A campaign has been launched on various social media platforms threatening to block Jana Nayagan’s release in January next year since the movie is being produced by Bengaluru-based KVN productions.

Several handles said Jana Nayagan, whose producers are Venkat K. Narayana and Nisha Venkat Konanki, should also be banned like Thug Life if the latter doesn’t get released in theatres on June 5 as scheduled.

Jana Nayagan marks the production house’s debut in Tamil cinema and is scheduled to be released on January 9, 2026 on the occasion of Pongal, the harvest festival of Tamils. The release of the film, directed by H Vinoth and dubbed into Kannada, Hindi, Telugu, and Malayalam, has been timed keeping in mind the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, which will mark Vijay and his party Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam electoral debut.

“If ThugLife movie is banned in Karnataka then we need to ban Kannada movies and their production houses releasing movies in Tamil Nadu. Actor Vijay should drop #JanaNayagan movie,” an X user, Rajesh Lingesh, wrote.

Several users echoed similar sentiments demanding that Kannada groups withdraw their ban call against Thug Life and allow its release. They don’t want films to be banned which will pose problems for the producers.

However, Vijay’s fans discounted the possibility of a ban saying everyone in the state was expecting its release. Vijay’s fans also said the movie was also being co-produced by Jagadish, a close associate of Vijay.