November 23, 2017
Two days after the Kerala High Court directed the
organisers of the 48th IFFI to screen "S Durga", the cast of the Sanal Kumar
Sasidharan directorial continues to wallow in uncertainty over whether the film
will be screened at all.
The movie's lead actress Rajshri Deshpande told
IANS on the sidelines of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) that it
was frustrating to be at the gala and not be able to watch the movie despite a
clear judicial direction.
"Unfortunately, we are discussing about the
controversy and waiting for the film to be screened here. It is so frustrating,"
Deshpande said.
The makers of the film have claimed that both IFFI
director Sunit Tandon, as well as the Union Ministry for Information and
Broadcasting have been dodging them over the issue of screening the film at the
festival despite orders from the Kerala High Court.
"S Durga" and "Nude"
were controversially dropped by the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry
from the screening schedule at the Indian Panorama section, despite the jury's
approval.
She also said that there was nothing in the film which would
hurt religious sentiments.
"Tell me whose religious sentiments are
getting hurt by the name of Durga. For me, sexy is bold. But people are just
seeing my body, that is how they take sexy. Half the people in this country are
named after gods and goddesses.
"We have won the best of awards around
the world in different festivals and I am so disappointed that our film is not
being screened here. We need answers. We can't keep running like this,"
Deshpande said, adding that after the controversy erupted, she has been getting
violent threats on social media.