Chennai: The hearing on the plea seeking a censor certificate for Thalapathy Vijay’s much-anticipated film ‘Jana Nayagan’ has been delayed on Wednesday.

The hearing at Madras High Court was delayed as Additional Solicitor General A.R.L. Sundaresan was occupied with another case before the Chief Justice’s Bench.

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The plea, filed by the makers of TVK chief Vijay starrer, seeks a direction to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to issue the certificate so that the film can release as scheduled on January 9, coinciding with the Pongal festival.

During the brief hearing, Justice P.T. Asha asked the CBFC to submit a copy of the complaint alleging that the film “hurts religious sentiments”.

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The filmmakers stated that the movie, directed by H Vinoth and starring Vijay, Pooja Hegde, and Mamitha Baiju, had already been submitted to the censor board last December and revised as per initial recommendations for a U/A certificate.

The production team argued that since the complaint was made without anyone having seen the film, it was unclear how the Revising Committee could justify delaying the certificate. They urged the court to review the relevant files and issue the certificate promptly to allow the film to be released in three languages.