Press Trust Of India
Mumbai, Nov 15: The controversy over the information and broadcasting ministry’s move to drop the films “S Durga” and “Nude” from IFFI’s Indian Panorama section continued to rage Wednesday with two more jury members resigning in protest.
Scriptwriter Apurva Asrani said his conscience doesn’t allow him to participate in the film festival, being held in Goa from November 20-28. Filmmaker Gyan Correa who also submitted his resignation, said Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, whose Malayalam film “S Durga” was one of the two films missing from the final selection.
The resignations come a day after Sujoy Ghosh quit as chairperson of the Indian Panorama jury over the ministry’s decision to drop the two films that were part of the list submitted by the 13-member jury. “I stand with the chairman of the jury. We had a responsibility towards some very sincere films, and somewhere we have failed them. My conscience won’t allow me to participate in the festivities in Goa,” Asrani said in a statement.
When contacted, the “Aligarh” scriptwriter confirmed he had resigned but said he would not like to elaborate further. Sasidharan, who filed a petition in the Kerala High Court against the ministry and International Film Festival of India officials Tuesday, confirmed Correa’s resignation in a Facebook post.
“I come to know that film maker Gyan Correa, who is also a jury member in IFFI resigned! Rays of hopes in the dark times!,” he wrote. The decision also upset filmmakers whose movies are part of the Panorama. Director Nitin Vaidya, whose film “Muramba” has been selected, called the ministry’s decision to drop the two movies “arbitrary and deplorable”.
“I & B ministry’s decision to drop two films namely Nude by Ravi Jadhav and S Durga by Sasidharan from Indian Panorama at IFFI to be held at Goa is arbitrary, unfortunate and deplorable. Govt should immediately reverse this decision,” Vaidya said in a Facebook post. The director said the two movies were selected by an “eminent jury”.
“This is a clear case of suppression of freedom of expression and also disrespect to the creativity that is flourishing in regional cinema despite challenges it is facing,” he said. Rather than boycotting the festival, they would protest the decision in the festival itself, Vaidya said. The makers of the film “Kaasav”, also in the Panorama, are planning a protest too. Several jury members also expressed their displeasure.
