48th International Film Festival of India: Smriti Irani's ministry refuses to grant permission to screen Ravi Jadhav's film Nude and Sanal Kumar Sasidharan's film S Durga; jury member Apurva Asrani reacts. Overriding the jury's decision, Information and Broadcast Ministry removes films from final list for Indian Panorama section at IFFI without consulting it
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 11, 2017)

Film lovers hoping to catch Ravi Jadhav's Nude and Sanal Kumar Sasidharan's Sexy Durga (retitled as S Durga) at the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), in Goa, later this month, will have to content themselves with watching their replacements, which have been chosen by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry.

Nude, a Marathi film, and S Durga, a Malayalam movie, were among 26 feature films that were chosen by a 13-member jury for IFFI's Indian Panorama section. Nude, the story of a woman's struggle for survival in Mumbai as a nude model, was the jury's unanimous choice as the opening film of the Indian Panorama. But, the final list released yesterday by the I & B Ministry did not feature the two movies. A statement issued by the ministry said that the section will now kick off with Vinod Kapri's Hindi film Pihu.

The 'switch' was purportedly made at the ministry level without consulting the jury. According to a source close to the development, several jury members have expressed their displeasure at the ministry's decision and have conveyed the same to it via email. "They (the jury) had anticipated that, given the current scenario, Nude, despite being an aesthetically made film, might not pass muster. But they made it clear that if this happened, the reason for it being dropped had to be explained to them and they should be allowed to choose an alternative. But the ministry went ahead and released a new list without informing them," said the source. The source added that the move went against Clause 8.5 of the Indian Panorama 2017 Regulations, which states that "the decision of the juries shall be final and binding and no appeal or correspondence regarding their decision shall be entertained".

Ruchi Narain, a member of the IFFI jury, told Mirror, "The final list that has come out does not match the list we submitted. Personally, I felt Nude and S Durga were stunning quality films which festival audiences would really appreciate."

An aggrieved member of the jury, who did not want to be named, told Mirror that both the movies should not have been on the list of 153 films submitted to them by the National Film Development Corporation (NDFC) if they found them objectionable for any reason. "My guess is that the people who took this decision did not bother watching either of the two films, because had they done so, they would have realised that Nude has no intention to titillate, while S Durga is a thriller, and there's nothing sexy about it."

Sasidharan, who directed S Durga, told Mirror that he had heard that his film had made it to the final list, but was unsure of it being screened. "I even heard that the I&B secretary had liked it and recommended it. But I had an inkling that this might happen, given that it was twice denied censor exemption. It was only screened at MAMI (Mumbai Academy of Moving Images) Film Festival earlier after the Censor Board passed it with a U/A certificate, after I had changed the title to S Durga." Sasidharan said, adding that he was not making films for the government but for his audience. "I will find a way to reach them through private screenings and international film festivals."

He also wrote a Facebook post lashing out at Irani. "Next time onwards a single member jury is enough. The Smriti Irani Jury!"

"Actually I am not feeling any kind of grievance in the removal of Sexy Durga from the final jury list of Indian Panorama by the BJP government," he wrote in a Facebook post. "I cant expect anything less from them. I can even imagine that next time, they might amend the law and make the I&B minister as the jury head to avoid controversy. But what makes me sad is the silence of the intellectuals of my state. Those who made huge cry for the freedom of expression of Perumal Murugan are now keeping a strange silence against this blatant injustice. It is sad that you are sandwiched in between autocracy and hypocrisy in a land you choose to live and talk," the post further read.

Filmmaker Ravi Jadhav, director of Nude, shared a clipping of the Mirror story and captioned it as saying,"its very very sad and disappointing' (sic)"

While many members of the jury did not respond to this newspaper's calls and texts, Gopi Desai, another jury member, said, "Both the films, Nude and S Durga, were gems during the screening for the selection committee."

The jury was headed by Kahaani director Sujoy Ghosh and, besides Desai and Narain, consisted of Sachin Chatte, Suresh Heblikar, Rahul Rawail, Gyan Correa, Satarupa Sanyal, Nishikant Kamat, Merlvin Mukhim, Nikkhil Advani, Apurva Asrani, and Hari Viswanath. They watched 153 films over three weeks to narrow down on 21 (excluding the five mainstream films) movies, with five to six films unanimously loved by all, including the two disputed ones. IFFI opens on November 20.

Reacting to Mirror's story, another jury member Apurva Asrani, took to Facebook on Saturday to express his views. "#SexyDurga & #Nude are among the best of contemporary Indian cinema. Never attempting to titillate, they both present a powerful & empathetic portrait of women in today's India.
I feel that every Indian should grab the opportunity to watch these superior quality films and every festival should fearlessly program them.(sic)," he wrote in the Facebook post.