Kochi: Questioning the Centre Board of Film Certifications (CBFC) objection to the use of the name ‘Janaki’ in the latest Suresh Gopi starrer ‘JSk-Janjaki v/s State of Kerala’, the Kerala High Court asked what is wrong with the use of that name in a movie. The court asked that when there are films named ‘Seeta Aur Geeta’ and ‘Ram Lakan’, how come ‘Janaki’ is a problem, Live Law reported.
Justice N. Nagaresh asked the Deputy Solicitor General of India, who appeared for CBFC, “We have cinemas issued in the name 'Seeta Aur Geeta'. Janaki is Seeta. Nothing happened. No problem. Nobody has any complaints. We have a film named 'Ram Lakhan'. Nobody has any complaints. Then how come for Janaki there is a complaint?” Live Law quoted.
After the CBFC had issued a show cause notice to the film, demanding the production to drop the name from the title as well as dialogues, the production approached the high court. They complained that there was a delay in granting certification for the film, which was supposed to be released on big screens on Friday (June 27).
CBFC informed the court earlier that though its Screening Committee approved the movie, its Chairman referred it for scrutiny before its Revising Committee.
CBFC submitted before the court that the film is suitable for unrestricted public exhibition, but it has to drop the name of the lead character ‘Janaki’ from wherever it occurs in the film. It argued that the guidelines issued by the government under Section 5B(2) of the Cinematograph Act, 1952, visuals or words contemptuous of racial, religious or other groups should not be presented. The board said that the film contains mature content, includes sexual violence against women and uses sexual language and words denoting women. Therefore, the name ‘Janaki’ should not be used in this context since the name refers to the Hindu goddess ‘Sita’.