We have films with Ram, Sita in title; why is Janaki a problem? Kerala High Court to CBFC on Suresh Gopi movie

The Kerala High Court on Friday questioned the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) on its direction to withhold certification for upcoming Malayalam movie JSK: Janaki v State of Kerala, starring Union Minister Suresh Gopi [M/s Cosmos Entertainments v. The Regional Officer]. .Appearing for CBFC, Deputy Solicitor General of India (DSGI) OM Shalina informed the Court today that the objection is regarding the film’s central character's name, Janaki, another name for Hindu goddess Sita.Justice N Nagaresh observed that many Indian films with names of gods, goddesses, and religious figures in the title were granted censor certificates in the past."Why should somebody change the name of a character? Janaki is a common name used everywhere. What religious purpose? We have movies with names Sita and Gita. Janaki is Sita. Nothing happened then. Nobody had any complaints. We have a film named Ram Lakhan. Nobody has any complaint. How come there are some complaints for Janaki now?"The DSGI submitted that the movie includes mature themes such as sexual crimes against women and usage of explicit language referring to women..The Court was hearing a petition moved by the movie's production company M/s Cosmos Entertainments, over the delay in censor certification. The petition stated that the application for film certification was submitted via the CBFC's e-cinepramaan portal on June 12. However, the CBFC has not yet issued a certificate or raised any formal objections. It was also pointed out that the CBFC had previously issued a censor certificate for the teaser trailer of the film. As per the petitioner, the delay by the CBFC is due to informal objections regarding the film’s title and character name 'Janaki'."Even though no official communication or show cause notice have been received from the respondents, from the newspaper reports, the petitioner came to know that the censor board had directed to change in the title as well as the name of the titular character of Janaki, by citing that it refers to the Hindu goddess “Sita”, which shows the inconsistency and arbitrariness in the stand now taken by the Censor Board in objecting to the same title and character name at the stage of certifying the full film, despite having previously granted certification for the teaser without raising any such concerns," the petition stated. According to the plea, since the film was scheduled for worldwide release on June 27, this delay amounts to a violation of the fundamental right to free speech guaranteed under Articles 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.This would also cause irreparable financial loss to the company, it was submitted. The company, therefore, sought orders from the Court to the CBFC to expeditiously issue a censor certificate for the film. .At the last hearing, the Court had decided to wait for the decision of the revising committee of the CBFC. The committee met on June 26 and issued a show cause notice to the production company stating that the name Janaki needs to be removed from the title, character name, dialogues and wherever else it may appear in the film.The company's counsel today argued that the revising committee has no power to issue a show cause notice. He also submitted that the movie was scheduled for worldwide release today and that the CBFC's delay is forcing them to push back the release date.The Court ultimately directed the DSGI to submit a copy of the notice issued to the company and posted the matter for further hearing on Monday, June 30..The production company is being represented by Advocates Anand B Menon, Haris Beeran, Azhar Assees and Nabil Kahader.