Filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj has expressed his deep concern about the struggles of South Indian cinema, amidst Vijay’s ‘Jana Nayagan’ postponement. “Save cinema,” he urged. The renowned director, known for his films ‘Jigarthanda’, and ‘Petta’, criticized the systemic woes plaguing the industry.
‘Jana Nayagan’ postponement and censorship
Picture Credit: YouTube Screengrab
Tamil superstar Vijay’s much-awaited farewell film, ‘Jana Nayagan’, was slated to release on January 9, 2026; however, on Wednesday, the makers announced the postponement. The announcement came hours after the Madras High Court reserved orders on a writ petition filed by the makers against the non-issuance of the film’s censor certificate by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).In a post shared on Instagram, Karthik Subbaraj spoke about how certification woes are derailing big releases. “Censor delay causing postponement of a Big budget Big Star like Vijay Sir’s film #JanaNayagan slated to release tomorrow…”He further added how censorship adds pressure to a filmmaker’s creativity, especially when the release dates are announced. “For big-budget films, the strict timeline rules for Censors (India & Overseas ) are really hard to follow and put a lot of pressure on filmmakers’ creative space during post-production, especially when ur doing a big-budget film with a release date already announced…”The ‘Petta’ director explained how the postponement of such massive movies would affect the industry, especially during the festival season. “With current timeline rules for both Indian and overseas censors, the ideal time for a film to be fully completed is 3 months before the release date… which is highly impossible for many reasons. This has to be streamlined and should be made a bit easier for filmmakers… Both from the Board, the Producers, and the Stars...Otherwise, postponement of Big films on festival dates will eventually kill the industry!”
Indie films struggle to get screens
Karthik Subbaraj, who has always advocated for indie films, pointed out that good films are struggling to get theatres. “No theatres for an low budget Indie film ‘Salliyargal’. Bookings are yet to open in many centres due to the issue of the certificate for the other big-budget film ‘Parasakthi’ slated to release the day after tomorrow. Tough times for Cinema!!”He also emphasized that theatres should encourage and support low-budget films. “Coz, big Satellite & OTT players are not so keen to buy indie films, leaving Theatres as the only source for revenue for low-budget films. Not giving theatres for low-budget films literally means killing Cinema!”The filmmaker concluded the note, urging a collective effort to safeguard the industry and save cinema. “Please let’s all together in the film fraternity keep aside the fan wars, political reasoning, personal agendas, hate campaigns & join together to do something optimistic to Save the ART… Save Cinema.”