Latest news with #JSK-JanakiVsStateofKerala
The Hindu
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
CBFC made demands for Janaki name change through informal ways: Filmmaker M.B. Padmakumar
One of the things that filmmaker M.B. Padmakumar remembers from several interactions with Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) officials for the certification of his upcoming film Token Number is the lack of any official communication regarding the alleged issues related to the film. Although his film was cleared by the regional office of the CBFC, censor officials from the CBFC headquarters in Mumbai refused to certify the film until he changed the name of either of the protagonists - Janaki and Abraham. 'All the communication regarding the name change happened informally. If the Chairperson had any objection, the CBFC should have put it down in writing. When I asked the officials, they said that there would be no such official communication. Later, I was informed that the CEO will call me, but this call was through WhatsApp to prevent call recording,' Mr. Padmakumar tells The Hindu. Mr. Padmakumar himself was part of the CBFC regional committee until two months ago. The filmmaker went public with his ordeal only after the controversy broke out on Saturday over the CBFC demanding the makers of the film JSK - Janaki Vs State of Kerala, starring Union Minister Suresh Gopi, to change the title of the film. Both films faced an issue over the name 'Janaki'. Mr. Padmakumar's film explores the unlikely friendship between 65-year old Janaki and 72-year old Abraham. 'Janaki breaks out of the behaviour that the society expects from a senior citizen, who is not supposed to have any dream of her own. Abraham also finds himself in the same boat. The film explores what happens when they meet each other by chance,' he says. However, the censor officials found it a problem that a person named Janaki, the other name of Hindu goddess Sita, had anything to do with someone named Abraham. He was asked to change either of the names and was even given a list of possible names. 'I tried to reach out to them through various leaders, but after the initial promises, most of them turned hostile. After this, I sent an official email to the Union Minister of Broadcasting, which angered them further. I gave up as I was broken mentally and decided to change the name Janaki to Jayanthi, because the lip sync would match. However, the officials even objected to that name. At that point, I said that I won't be able to give in. I was ready for the film not even getting released. Finally, they agreed to the name change and issued the certification on June 9,' says Mr. Padmakumar who debuted with the award winning My Life Partner in 2014.
The Hindu
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
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 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.
