Denial of censor certificate: Producers of Lakshmi Lawrence Kadhal move Madras High Court

Close on the heels of actor Vijay’s Jana Nayagan censor row, the producers of yet another Tamil movie have approached the Madras High Court against the refusal of censor certificate to it by Central Board of Film Certificate (CBFC) on the ground that the movie had many visuals and dialogues contemptuous of religious groups and hence not suitable for public exhibition.

Justice K. Govindarajan Thilakavadi has ordered notice to the CBFC on the statutory appeal filed by the production house against the refusal order and granted time till February 3, 2026 for the board to file its counter affidavit. The order was passed after hearing advocate M. Santhanaraman for the appellant who contended the refusal to issue a certificate was without application of mind.

The counsel told the court Chennai based Youreka Cinema School, owned by J. Joseph Mohan Kumar, had produced a romantic movie titled Lakshmi Lawrence Kadhal with several debutant actors playing the lead roles. He said, renowned film actor K.R. Vijaya and acclaimed drums player Sivamani had played important characters alongside the new faces.

The lyrics for the songs had been penned by Vairamuthu. The movie was submitted for certification on September 10, 2025 on payment of ₹28,084 towards certification fee. On September 29, 2025, the CBFC’s Chennai Region Director D. Balamurali wrote to the producer refusing to issue a certificate for the movie.

“I am directed by the Board to inform you that the film has been viewed by the Examining Committee (comprising five members) and the Board has come to the conclusion that a certificate cannot be issued for its exhibition,” the communication read. It said the reason for denial of certificate was the movie had multiple visuals and dialogues contemptuous of religious groups.

The producer was informed he could prefer an appeal to the revising committee within 14 days as per the provisions of the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 2024. Accordingly, the producer went on appeal but the nine-member revising committee too concurred with the decision of the five-member examining committee and concluded the movie should not be allowed for public exhibition.

Giving additional reasons for its decision, the revising committe said, the movie “portrays its interpretation of various belief systems in their adaption of modern science, rituals based on beliefs, treatment of women and downtrodden and caste-based discrimination and consistently portrays one belief system in bad light and the other one as emancipating, throughout the film, maliciously. Overall, it affects the social fabric of the society negatively. Hence the film is refused certification.”

The CBFC Regional Director had conveyed the revising committee’s decision to the producer on December 16, 2025 and hence the production house had come on further appeal to the High Court since the Cinematograph Appellate Tribunal had been abolished and therefore, the appeal would lie only before the High Court as per the provisions of the Tribunal Reforms Act of 2021.

Assailing the reasons cited for refusal of certification, Mr. Santhanaraman contended the CBFC could not pass a blanket order refusing to certify the movie without specifying which of the particular scenes or dialogues reportedly violate the guidelines issued for film certification.

He said, the whole idea behind Lakshmi Lawrence Kadhal was only to convey the message that art forms such as Bharatanatyam were universal, without any religious identity, and they could be performed by any person, irrespective of his/her religion, by learning the niceties. Such an expression of opinion does not warrant a blanket ban, he argued.