November 14, 2017
Filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh has resigned as head of the jury of the
Indian Panorama of the 48th International Film Festival of India (IIFI) after
the final selection saw two films -- "Sexy Durga" and "Nude" -- excluded.
The 13-member jury, led by Ghosh, had reportedly included both the movies in
their recommended list, but they did not find their way in the list passed by
the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Asked if he has resigned as
jury head, Ghosh told IANS: "Yes, but I can't say anything more than that right
now."
The jury included names like Nishikant Kamat, Nikkhil Advani,
Apurva Asrani, Ruchi Narain and Gyan Correa, some of whom have expressed dissent
over the ministry's move.
"Sexy Durga", which will release in theatres as
"S Durga", is a Malayalam film by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, while "Nude" is a
Marathi movie by National Award winning director Ravi Jadhav.
Sasidharan's movie was earlier refused censor exemption to be screened at the
Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival as the Information and Broadcasting Ministry
concluded it "may affect the law and order as it hurts the religious
sentiments".
He is beyond disappointed.
"I was thinking about the
unfortunate things happening in our country. This government is ruthlessly
capturing all the spaces of artists in an autocratic way. It is supporting
extreme groups in destroying artistic freedom and freedom of expression for
stupid reasons," he wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
Jadhav told IANS
he was shocked to read a news report about the exclusion of his film "Nude",
which the jury had recommended as the opening film.
"Don't go by the
name," said the hapless director of his film, which is a sensitive tale about a
nude model who poses for painters.