With the Jana Nayagan vs Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) battle continuing unabated, social media is abuzz with discussions on film censorship and the extent of power such statutory bodies must possess and can exercise. Now, veteran filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, known for not mincing words when commenting on virtually anything, has chimed in, sharing his views on the topic. Maintaining that the “censor board is outdated,” Varma pointed out that in the current digital era, when people can tune into anything irrespective of their age, censorship is pointless. He went one step further and stated that censorship “insults the viewers.”
Mentioning that his post pertains not just to the ongoing Jana Nayagan controversy but to censorship as a whole, the director began by stating that it’s “foolish” to think the censor board is still relevant today. He also blamed the film industry for allowing the CBFC to exist for so long. In a lengthy post on X (formerly Twitter), he wrote, “It (CBFC) has long outlived its purpose, but it’s being kept alive out of laziness to debate its relevance now, and it is the film industry as a whole which is mainly responsible for this.”
He continued, “We live in a time where a 12-year-old with a phone can watch a terrorist execution filmed on a GoPro, a 9-year-old can stumble upon hardcore porn, and a bored retiree can binge extremist propaganda, indulge in conspiracy theories, from anywhere in the world, uncut, uncensored, algorithmically pushed. All of it is available instantly, anonymously, and without a gatekeeper.”
Pointing out that people frequently use abusive language in the virtual world today, Ram Gopal Varma stated that social media has a far greater reach than cinema and is therefore a more powerful medium. “It (social media) is full of political venom, communal poison, character assassinations, live, uncensored shouting matches in the name of debates. And in this reality, for the honourable censor board to believe that cutting a word in a film, trimming a shot, or blurring a cigarette will ‘protect society’ is a joke,” he added.
Watch Jana Nayagan trailer here:
Mentioning that the CBFC was born at a time when “images were rare, access was limited, and the state controlled the media,” he noted that attempts to decide what people should or shouldn’t see are pointless now. “In such times as now, censorship doesn’t prevent exposure; it only insults the viewers. We are supposed to have the smartness to decide who should rule us, but not what we want to see or hear,” he asked. “The same society that freely scrolls through graphic violence on social media suddenly becomes ‘concerned’ when a filmmaker shows something in a theatre. This hypocrisy is dangerous.”
Pointing out that the purpose of cinema is not to educate the masses but to serve as a mirror and entertain in tandem, Varma added, “The job of the authorities is not to edit or cut them out, but to trust citizens enough to decide for themselves, which is the main point of freedom of speech and expression, guaranteed under the Constitution.” He also stated that during the so-called censorship, a movie is subjected to the personal tastes, biases, and agendas of those involved in the process as well. “Age classification makes sense. Warnings of the content make sense. Censorship does not,” he added.
CENSOR BOARD is OUTDATED
Not in the context of just @Actor_Vijay ‘s #JanaNayagan ‘s censor issues but in an overall manner, it is truly foolish to think that the censor board is still relevant today
It has long outlived it’s purpose, but it’s being kept alive out of laziness…
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) January 9, 2026
Ram Gopal Varma concluded by noting, “The world has already moved on to so many platforms which are unfiltered and unsupervised, and so the painful question is whether the authorities have the courage to admit that they are obsolete, and more than that, whether we as a film industry collectively have the will to question them on the same. So instead of raising this topic once in a while over a particular film, the fight should be with that particular system of thinking which created the censor board.”
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Although director H Vinoth’s ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay-starrer Jana Nayagan initially received a green signal from a single-judge bench of the Madras High Court on Friday (January 9) morning, which directed the CBFC to grant a U/A certificate to the movie immediately, a division bench, comprising Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava, temporarily stayed this later in the day. The court has now scheduled the matter for further hearing on January 21, affecting the makers’ plan of releasing Jana Nayagan during the Pongal holidays.
