November 14, 2017
Malayalam filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan has moved the
Kerala High Court against the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and
officials of the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) for "illegal,
arbitrary and unjust exclusion" of his movie "S Durga" from the final selection.
"I have filed a writ petition before the Hon'ble High Court of Kerala
against this unprecedented, illogical and unconstitutional action taken by the
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting," Sasidharan wrote in his Facebook
page.
His film -- earlier titled "Sexy Durga" -- is one of the two
projects that were among the jury recommended list for the Indian Panorama
section of IFFI, but did not make it to the final list, approved by the
ministry.
In protest against the exclusion, filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh, who
led the feature film jury, resigned.
"The resignation of Sujoy Ghosh, the
jury chairman, is a bold and courageous act," said Sasidharan, who has mentioned
in his petition that "the decision of jury is final and binding as per Panorama
Regulations".
He said the ministry "has not understood the context and
setting of the film".
"The title is now amended as 'S Durga' and the film
has been given a U/A certification by CBFC, implying that there is no
objectionable content in the film. Hence, there is no valid ground for excluding
the film of the petitioner," Sasidharan said.
According to the director,
the petition "has been taken into file and posted for the respondents' reply" to
Thursday.
The other film to be excluded is National Award winning
director Ravi Jadhav's Marathi film "Nude".
Sasidharan pointed out how in
the Marathi film industry filmmakers were planning to boycott IFFI.
Acclaimed filmmaker Umesh Kulkarni of "Deool" and "Highway" fame made an appeal
via Facebook: "Sumitra Bhave, the director of 'Kasav', the film which got the
President's Gold Medal for best feature film, is going to withdraw her film from
Panorama and she won't attend the festival in support of the protest against the
unjust decision by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
"There are
nine Marathi films in Panorama this year. If all the directors take this stand,
I am sure a pressure can be built and the two films 'Nude' and 'S Durga' can be
included again... The freedom to express is non-negotiable."