'She's A Heroine Fighting For Justice; Why Can't Her Name Be 'Janaki'?' : Kerala High Court On CBFC's Objection To Suresh Gopi's Film

The Kerala High Court has once again questioned CBFC's objection to the use of name 'Janaki', another name for Hindu goddess Sita, in Suresh Gopi starrer 'JSK – Janaki v/s State of Kerala'.

Noting that the protagonist, named Janaki, is a victim of sexual assault seeking justice in Court of law, Justice N. Nagaresh orally observed,

“She is not a rapist. If a rapist is named as Rama, Krishna, Janaki, then I can understand. At least we can appreciate that you should not name that character with God's name. Here, she is a heroine of the film, fighting for the cause of justice.”

The bench was dealing with a petition filed by the production over delay in granting of certification for the film, which was planned to hit the theaters on June 27.

Earlier, the judge had asked the central film certification body why the movie can't use the name Janaki when in the past, there have been films like 'Seeta Aur Geeta' and 'Ram Lakhan', that are named after Gods.

Today, the Deputy Solicitor General of India appearing for CBFC submitted that the current title of the film violates Guidelines 2(xii) and 6 of the Guidelines issued by the Central Government pursuant to Section 5B(2) of the Cinematograph Act, 1952.

The Court however found the argument prima facie unsustainable. It orally noted that in India, most of the names are attributed to God, whether it is Hindus, Christians or Muslims.

"80% of names have religious connotations, like Ahammed, Anthony, Kesavan, Krishnan...you (CBFC) cannot dictate the directors and artists which name should be given or which story should be told. That is the freedom of artist. You cannot interfere in that. It is not absolute but you do not have a convincing reason to say how this name Janaki will be contemptuous to racial, religious or other groups,” the Court remarked.

The production submitted that CBFC had cleared the film's teaser, which conspicuously displayed its title, three months ago. Thus, it was argued that the title of the film was approved by the Board three months ago and the show cause notice now issued to them by CBFC's Revising Committee lacks application of mind.

"A teaser, which is a short film, undergoes the same process as a movie before certification is given by the Board," the counsel appearing for the production argued.

Significant to note that the film was approved by CBFC's Screening Committee. However, the Chairman had referred it for scrutiny before the Revising Committee, which issued a notice asking the production to drop the name Janaki from the title as well as dialogues of the film.

On perusing the show cause notice placed on record, the Court orally directed the DSGI to file a detailed statement so as to give a clear picture as to why the name 'Janaki' cannot be used in the film.