M Sivakumar directed Nellu was denied a censor certificate by the Regional censor board members in Chennai and now the film will go to the revising committee.The film is inspired by the Keelvenmani tragedy, especially in the climax. Says Sivakumar: “The members who watched the film objected to the scene where farmers are caught in a burning hut saying it was too evocative of the Keelvenmani episode. After watching the film they suggested some major changes in the climax. But we refrained since the storyline will be incomplete without the existing climax”
Now the revising committee will watch Nellu and give its verdict. However, this is not the first time a Tamil film has run into trouble with the censor board. Around the same time last year, director Raja Mahesh faced a similar situation, when his ‘Thambiudayan’ failed to get the censor certificate. It was subsequently sent to the revising committee, cleared, and released months later.