CBFC demands name change for JSK- Janaki Vs State of Kerala, starring Union Minister Suresh Gopi
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has demanded the makers of the film JSK - Janaki Vs State of Kerala, starring Union Minister Suresh Gopi, to change the title of the film. Filmmaker Pravin Narayanan told The Hindu on Sunday that the board's stand had effectively stalled the release of the film scheduled for June 27. When asked about the issue, regional officials of the CBFC were evasive and said that the 'certification process is ongoing.'
According to Mr. Narayanan, the Thiruvananthapuram regional office of the CBFC had cleared the censoring of the film on June 18 with a U/A certificate. However, when the regional office forwarded the same to the CBFC headquarters in Mumbai, the higher officials there demanded a change in the title as well as the name of the titular character of Janaki, apparently because the name also refers to the Hindu goddess Sita.
'We were supposed to load the content with the censor certificate attached on June 20 for distribution to release centres across the world. But on that evening, the CBFC officials told the producer that the film won't be certified unless the film and character names are changed. We told them to give us a written document denoting this, so that we can proceed to the review committee. The officials have told us that they will provide this on Monday. We have already spent a lot on publicity events and marketing. The online ticketing process was also about to begin,' said Mr. Narayanan.
Minister yet to protest
He said that the changes, if forced, would cause immense damage to the film as the mention of the name will have to be removed from several dialogues in the film. Mr. Gopi, the Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, is yet to comment on the whole issue. He was part of the promotional events of the film over the past week. The film is set to be his first release after taking charge as a Minister.
Incidentally, filmmaker M.B. Padmakumar had also recently spoken about the issues he faced from the CBFC over a character in his upcoming film Token Number being named Janaki. The board officials had demanded a change in the name of either Janaki or her lover Abraham. The film was certified a few days ago only after he gave into the board's demands and changed the name Janaki to Jayanthi.
FEFKA to protest
Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) general secretary and filmmaker B.Unnikrishnan lashed out at CBFC and said that the federation will organise protests if the board persists with the demand.
'It would be convenient if the CBFC provides us with a list of names that can be used. I fear that soon they will also ask me not to mention my name in the credits, as it is also a Hindu god's name. We have told the filmmaker to move legally against this,' said Mr. Unnikrishnan.
The Kerala Film Producers' Association has also criticised the increasing tendency of censors meddling in the content, which he said is against the CBFC's own guidelines.
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