A public interest litigation (PIL) petition has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to revoke the UA certificate — which allows children aged below 12, too, to watch a movie with parental guidance — issued to Rajinikanth-starrer Jailer.
Advocate M.L. Ravi has filed the case contending that the movie has several violent scenes that are not appropriate for children to watch despite which the CBFC had issued a UA certificate to it.
A certificate abroad
He said that the same movie had been issued an A (Adults only) certificate in the U.S. and the U.K.
Narrating the script of the movie in his affidavit, the petitioner said that in one scene, the antagonist hangs people upside down and smashes their heads with a hammer and in another, the protagonist beheads a person.
In another scene, the protagonist chops off the ear of a convict inside a prison, the litigant complained and pointed out that the CBFC guidelines on film certification required the board to ensure that anti-social activities like violence were not glorified or justified in movies.
The petitioner further insisted on passing an interim order staying the exhibition of the movie in theatres until his plea to revoke the UA certification was considered by the court. The petition is likely to be listed for hearing before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu next week.
Apart from CBFC chairman and its regional officer in Chennai, the film’s producer Sun Pictures and director Nelson Dilipkumar, too, were listed as respondents to the PIL petition.
