Days before Goa welcomes movie lovers for the the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), it is making news for all the wrong reasons.
After allegations of two movies selected by 13-member jury for the Indian Panorama section were removed by the I&B Ministry, reports are abuzz that panel head Sujoy Ghosh has also put in his papers from the post of jury chief. According to Indian Express report, Kahaani filmmaker confirmed the news but without giving any divulging any details about his decision.
IFFI 2017 is scheduled to be hosted by Goa from 20th-28th of his month. Soon after, the I&B Ministry announced the list of feature and non feature Indian films to be a part of the prestigious film festival. Against the wishes of the jury member, Smriti Irani's office decided to drop Sanal Sasidharan’s Malayalam movie 'S Durga' and Ravi Jadhav’s Marathi film 'Nude' from the list. According to reports the jury members of IFFI were not aware of this decision as well. The ministry has not responded to the allegations.
Marathi film Nude which explores the chaotic life of a nude model at an art school has now been replaced by Vinod Kapri's 'Pihu' as the opening film. After making the right noises at numerous international film festivals, S Durga a film which tells the story of a couple running away in the night and their encounters with sexist people will now not be screened at IFFI.
Disapointed with this decision, Sasidharan has already sent an email to the ministry asking for the reasons behind the “arbitrary removal of the film” and demanding the screening of the movie selected by the jury. Jadhav also plans to write to the ministry, too for Nude being removed from the list of films to be screened at IFFI.
Earlier Apurva Asrani, one of the jury members at IFFI had tweeted praises for the two films.
26 films which feature in Indian Paranoma which includes five mainstream films and 16 non-feature films was prepared by the jury after previewing 153 eligible entries. India's official entry to the Oscars, 'Newton' will also be screened at IFFI.Apart from regional films including Khyanikaa-The Lost Idea, Kadvi Hawa and Kshitij-A Horizon
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