Producers of Rajinikanth-starrer Coolie approach Madras High Court against ‘A’ certification

Sun TV Network Limited has approached the Madras High Court against the grant of ‘A’ certificate by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to Rajinikanth-starrer Coolie, thereby making it impermissible for those below 18 years of age to watch the movie in cinema theatres.

Justice T.V. Thamilselvi on Tuesday (August 19, 2025) held as maintainable a civil miscellaneous appeal filed by the production firm against the CBFC’s decision and directed the High Court Registry to number the case and list it for admission before her on Wednesday (August 20, 2025).

The High Court Registry had doubted the maintainability of the appeal and listed the unnumbered case before the judge on Tuesday for taking a call on the matter. Central government senior panel counsel A. Kumaraguru, too, contended that the appeal was not maintainable.

However, senior counsel J. Ravindran, assisted by M. Sneha, convinced the court that the denial of U/A certificate to the movie by the CBFC could be challenged before the High Court by way of a civil appeal since a tribunal, constituted under the Cinematograph Act, 1952, had been abolished.

The senior counsel pointed out that Section 5C of the Cinematograph Act states that any person who applies for certificate in respect of a film and aggrieved against the issuance of a particular certificate could file an appeal before the tribunal constituted under the Act within a period of 30 days.

He also brought it to the notice of the judge that as per the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021, appeals could be filed directly before the High Court, if the tribunal concerned had been abolished. Concurring with his submissions, the judge agreed to hear the appeal on Wednesday after it was numbered.

In its grounds of appeal, the production firm said it had produced Coolie in order to celebrate Mr. Rajinikanth’s completion of 50 years in the film industry and the movie had become a “mega blockbuster” owing to its pan-India star-cast comprising Nagarjuna Akkineni,  Aamir Khan, and others.

Stating that it had applied for CBFC certification for the movie on July 28, 2025, the production firm said it was shocked to receive an e-mail from the board on July 31, 2025, stating that the screening committee had found the movie to be celebrating violence and therefore, agreed to issue only a ‘A’ certificate. When the appellant requested for a review by the revising committee, the latter, too, ended up issuing only an ‘A’ certificate on August 4, 2025. Since the movie had to be released on August 14, 2025, owing to the booking of theatres worldwide, the producers chose to release it and then challenge the certification.

Stating that Rajinikanth has fans cutting across age groups around the world and men, women and children were eagerly waiting for the release of Coolie in order to celebrate the 50 years of his cinematic journey, the appellant said all those below 18 years of age had now been deprived of a chance to take part in the celebration.

The production firm also told the court that the CBFC had issued U/A certificates for movies such as Yash-starrer KGF and Vijay-starrer Beast, but had surprisingly chosen to issue a ‘A’ certificate for Coolie, though it does not contain as much violence as the other two movies.