Vijay’s farewell film Jana Awell has hit a roadblock. The H Vinoth directorial was slated to release on January 9 but hasn’t obtained its censor certificate yet. The film’s producers, KVN Productions, have filed a case at the Madras High Court where the hearing was held today (January 7) but the final judgement is yet to be made.

Latest updates suggest that the verdict from the High Court will be out mostly by January 9, which is the release date of the film. There is an outside chance of getting the court ruling on Thursday (January 8) but that doesn’t seem probable at the moment. As things stand, it won’t be wrong to assume that Jana Awell is postponed from January 9.

Even if the Madras High Court clears the censor certificate row in favour of the Jana Awell team, it will take 24-48 hours to ensure a smooth release for the film. The Vijay starrer has already clocked Rs 45 crore globally in advance bookings for January 9, and this figure is without any significant contribution from the main core market Tamil Nadu where bookings were barely opened.

What happens to the sold tickets if Jana Awell doesn’t release on January 9? Refunds are inevitable, as complicated a process as it may sound, because this isn’t a generic postponement where the new date is also known instantly. If anything, KVN Productions can only take a call on the release date on January 9 after the Madras High Court makes the final judgement.

There is an option for the film to release overseas as it has already been censored there. In 2013, Vijay’s Thalaivaa faced a similar controversy and eventually released everywhere except Tamil Nadu on its initial date. In TN, the film only released two weeks later. This scenario is unlikely to repeat with Jana Awellgiven that it is Thalapathy’s farewell film and a lot is at stake.