The Madras High Court has issued a notice to Central Board of Film Certification, demanding an explanation for not certifying Marina Puratchi directed by debutant MS Raj. The director claims that the board did not give any valid reason for not approving the film.
Speaking about the issue to Silverscreen, director Raj says, “Certification for the film has been denied twice by CBFC. They haven’t given any reason. First when it went to the Examination Committee, they denied it with a reason, later when it was sent to Revising Committee headed by actress Gautami, it was again denied without a valid reason.”
“It has been 80 days since we have sent the film to the board, and nothing has been done. So we approached the court to take a legal measure. The court now has sent a notice to the board seeking an explanation,” he says.
The film is based on the Jallikattu issue, and was scheduled for a Pongal release. Raj says, “This is the second year Jallikattu will happen. We wanted to release the film during Pongal, so we planned accordingly and sent it to the censor board early in September.”
About the film, he says, “It is purely based on Jallikattu protests and the truth behind it. There is nothing cooked up or exaggerated to make it dramatic. There is absolutely nothing against the government or religious sentiments of people. We have tried to tell the story from all perspectives without a bias. We only want to tell people what exactly happened. So I cannot even suspect any political motive behind this.”
He further added that they’ve already screened the film in three countries and the response was positive. There was no need to ban the film, he says, “Tamil people in the three countries told us that the film made them emotional. They also said it needed to be spoken about and had to reach many people. I personally don’t think anything about the film needs to be banned.”
The film stars Naveen and Shruthi as the lead actors. They had both participated in the protests. Raj Mohan of Put Chutney fame, a popular YouTube channel, also has an important role in the film.
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Cinematography is by Velraj, who has worked on Vada Chennai, Kadaikutty Singam and other films. Raj says, “Despite his busy schedule, he came and worked on the project saying that it was an important script. He did not ask for a single penny to work on the film.”
“The poster designer of our film also worked without a pay. He said this was his way of contributing to the protests because he was away from the state when it happened,” says Raj.