February 21, 2017
Director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan is happy that his
controversial Malayalam film "S Durga" has been passed by the CBFC Revising
Committee. He is looking for a pan-India release in March or April.
"Happy to share this. Revising Committee of CBFC has cleared the censor
certificate for 'S Durga'. Hope that the film will be released in India soon,"
Sasidharan tweeted on Wednesday along with the film's poster that reads "S
Coming, S Durga".
"S Durga" was dropped from a jury-suggested shortlist
of the Indian Panorama section of the International Film Festival of India along
with another film "Nude", triggering controversy last year.
The director
got caught in a long-drawn battle with the IFFI organisers to screen his movie,
and even moved the Kerala High Court in November.
"They (CBFC) wanted to
re-examine my film. I was told that there was manipulation in the title of the
film. I went to the court. The court asked CBFC to clear the film if I was ready
to release the film as 'S Durga' instead of 'Sexy Durga'," Sasidharan told IANS.
"I was okay with 'S Durga' as earlier, when I had applied to censor board, I
was told to change the name. I had agreed to it. Now, after re-examination, they
have found nothing objectionable. They cleared the film without any fresh cuts.
"It has received a 'U/A' certificate. The producer (Shaji Mathew) needs to
file an affidavit saying that he will only screen the film as 'S Durga' and only
‘S Durga' would be used in the promotion or poster of the film," he added.
Internationally, the film is titled "Sexy Durga".
"International
rights have been already sold. It's in India, that I can't use the name as the
censor board has a problem with it. But there is nothing against Goddess Durga.
I am tired of repeating this 100 times.
"It is about the society. People
need to watch the film and then only they will understand and can form an
opinion," said the director.
He is planning to release the film across
the country soon.
"We are trying to release it pan-India. Discussions are
going on. Hopefully, by end of March or beginning of April it will release.
There are already subtitles. The film is not really dialogue oriented. So, even
if it is not dubbed, people will understand it," he said.