Keeping in line with his previous films like Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi and Chameli, the film has finally been passed with an ‘A’ certificate. However, Mishra is not too pleased with this.

"This is a film that everyone should watch. What is shown in Johny is a hundred times milder than what actually happens on the streets of Mumbai. We wanted Johny to reach a wider audience and make them aware of an aspect of Mumbai that they ignore or don’t even know about. But I’d rather go with the Adult certificate than compromise on the storytelling,” says Mishra.
 
The Censor Board is believed to have objected to a scene where a cop is shown making sexual advances on a boy and also asked Mishra to chop off some of the expletives from the film if he wanted a U/A certificate for the film.

The censors also, allegedly, objected to certain shots of cocaine being sold and snorted. "All these scenes are key to the very essence of the film and to the characters being portrayed. So making any of the changes would have meant changing what I was trying to convey in the first place," added Mishra.

The film is due for release on 31 December, 2010.