After the makers of Janaki vs State of Kerala moved the Kerala High Court to oppose the title change demanded by CBFC, the court is set to watch the film on July 5. The screening of the film will be held at Lal Media in Palarivattom, Kochi. The decision was made after the film’s production company, Cosmos Entertainments, petitioned for the court’s review.
In June, CBFC objected to the use of Janaki in the film’s title and said that the movie’s lead, a rape survivor, cannot be named after Goddess Sita.
Justice N Nagaresh, who will watch the film alongside representatives from both the petitioner and the CBFC, told The Hindu, “Considering the allegations in the petitions, I believe it is appropriate to watch the movie before arriving at a decision.”
In their petition, the makers of the film said, “We accept that Janaki is also another name for goddess Sita, but it’s such a common name used in many parts of the country. Through our movie, we never tried to defame Goddess Sita or any other belief system reluctant in our country.”
The makers further shared that they are in the final stage of production and to rename the character at this stage is difficult for us. The petitioner’s counsel also highlighted that the same CBFC has issued a certificate to a film titled Janaki Jaane.
The CBFC is also facing opposition from the film body Association of Malayalam Movie Artists. Joy Mathew, member of the ad hoc committee, AMMA said, “What a joke! Most of the people, films in our country and even the government give name from our itihas and traditions. Then why should CBFC say this? They always want to change most of the dialogues mentioning Janaki. It looks like matter of ego, otherwise there is no reason for them to do it because most of the films carry names like Sita, Ram, Mohammad, George and so on.”
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Directed by Pravin Narayanan, Janaki vs State of Kerala stars Suresh Gopi and Anupama Parameswaran in the lead roles.
