Malayalam film personalities to stage protest before CBFC office

Kochi: Film personalities belonging to various movie organisations will stage a dharna before the office of the Central Board of Film Certfication (CBFC) on Monday to protest the Board’s decision to decline certification to the film Janaki Vs State of Kerala (JSK).

The CBFC revising committee had verbally directed the makers of the Suresh Gopi-starrer film, JSK, to change the name of the titular character, as Janaki is another name of Goddess Sita.

Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) general secretary B Unnikrishnan told reporters here on Friday that people belonging to the entire film industry will take part in the protest before the CBFC office in Thiruvananthapuram.

Terming the CBFC’s decision as ‘arbitrary,’ he wondered why the name change was being suggested after the film was cleared by the regional panel of the censor board.

The film was given U/A certification and was sent to the CBFC office in Mumbai, from where the change was suggested. “We fail to understand the criterion behind such a decision,” he said.

Earlier also, director M B Padmakumar’s film, ‘Token Number’ could be cleared for release only after changing the name of its female character from Janaki to Jayanthi, he said.

Unnikrishnan said the teaser and trailer of JSK, cleared by the censor board, were being run in the theatres for the last one month. “We do not know if it has created any communal disharmony.”

The film’s director, Pravin Narayanan, in his Facebook post on Thursday, confirmed that he had been told by the revising committee members that the name of the central character be changed to get a certification.

Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court, which is hearing a petition filed by the film’s makers against the delay in getting certification, directed the censor board to inform its decision to the court on Friday itself.