Removing films from Panorama is an attempt to suppress creativity: Dakshinayan Abhiyan

Prakash Kamat

Panaji: The Dakshinayan Abhiyan, Goa, on Wednesday took exception to the decision taken by the I&B Mnistry to exclude two films — Nude and S Durga — from the Indian Panorama section in the forthcoming International Film Festival of India by overriding the jury’s choice.

“A gross violation of the right to freedom of expression, we consider this act as an attempt to suppress creativity. As the festival is held in Goa, it also reflects badly on the image of the State that is known for excellent harmony and tolerance,” said Dakshinayan, Goa chief Datta Naik in a press release issued here.

“It is ridiculous to consider the term ‘sexy’ and ‘nude’ as vulgar. It is pertinent to note that at the 47th IFFI last year the film Love, the sexually explicit one which was highly graphic in nature, was screened and obviously the I&B Ministry had no objection to it. Therefore, there is every reason to believe that this year the authorities are behaving arbitrarily and selectively. The film Nude is supposed to be highlighting women’s safety in patriarchal society. The board of certification had objected to the term ‘sexy’ and changed the title to S Durga. It is also reported that Durga being a Hindu goddess the authorities believe that it is likely to hurt the religious sentiments. In fact, S Durga is a story about the callous attitude of men towards the violence meted out to women,” said Mr. Naik. and added that interestingly, S Durga was awarded the Hivos Tiger award at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam.

“We appreciate the ‘no show’ decision of some of the film makers and call upon the Government to retract the decision with immediate effect by allowing screening of the two films thereby restoring the credibility of the jury and of the IFFI,” said Mr. Naik.

CM’s reaction

Meanwhile, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Wednesday that Nudeand S Durga were dropped because the former was not fully complete and the latter was without cuts.

The Goa CM, who heads the State-owned Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), which co-hosts IFFI, said that Sanal Kumar Sasidharan’s S Durga had been screened at two other film festivals with cuts, to prevent flaring of religious sentiments.

“Nude is not even complete. Even if it is selected by the jury, if it is not completed and unless it gets a certificate from Board for film Certification, unless the entire procedure is complete and it is ready, it cannot be screened. There will be an issue with the Cinematography Act,” Mr. Parrikar said.

As for ‘Sexy Durga’, Mr. Parrikar said, “They said that in two other film festivals, the film was shown with cuts, MAMI in Mumbai and Kerala Film Festival. They had even changed its name. It was censored. That was done to ensure that there was no eruption of religious sentiments and creation of problems. Here the film is given without cuts,” Mr. Parrikar said and accused certain sections of trying to rake up an unwarranted controversy.

When asked if that meant that the jury had erred in their selection job, Mr. Parrikar said he would not like to comment on that as he was not an expert.

“I don’t want to say anything on that. I am not an expert. I have told you what I enquired and found out from the Ianfomration & Broadcasting(I&B) Ministry,” said Mr. Parrikar.

The controversial dropping of the two movies from the festival’s Indian Panorama section has led to resignation of the head of jury Sujoy Ghosh. The Congress has accused the I&B Ministry of trying to “interfere with jury decisions”.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/removing-films-from-panorama-is-an-attempt-to-suppress-creativity-dakshinayan-abhiyan/article20461840.ece