The Kerala High Court on Tuesday ordered the screening of Malayalam film S Durga at the ongoing IFFI in Goa, days after the Information and Broadcasting Ministry dropped the movie from the festival.
Allowing a petition by the film’s director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, Justice B Vinod Chandran directed the ministry to screen it at the 48th edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI). The film’s certified copy can be exhibited at the festival, which commenced yesterday, the court said in its order.
Sasidharan had moved the court after the film was dropped from the Panorama section of the festival, contending that the decision was unconstitutional. Overruling the recommendation of the 13-member jury, the I&B ministry pulled out S Durga and Marathi movie Nude from the festival, which will continue till November 28.
The petitioner submitted that the ministry “arbitrarily vetoed” the decision of the jury “without any authority of law” and excluded the film from the Indian Panorama section, without notice to him and also without assigning any reason.
He further stated that some fringe elements protested against the film, based on their misunderstanding that the original title Sexy Durga referred to Goddess Durga whereas the work has nothing against the goddess or any other religious figures.
The film, a road movie that follows the horrifying experience of two hitchhikers, a man and a woman, at the hands of two men in the dead of the night, won the Hivos Tiger Award in the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2017.
Reacting to the news, the elated director said, “I am very happy. It is a victory of cinema and democracy. People stood by us and believed in us and it has paid off. The chairman resigned, other jury members also resigned.”
For the director, who is in Australia for Asia Pacific Screen Awards where he is nominated in the best director category for S Durga, the decision could not have come at a better time.
“This is a victory for all of us. It is a proof that democracy can’t be killed and law is for the people,” Sanal said to PTI.
