Apurva Asrani, who had resigned from the IFFI jury panel, today hailed the Kerala High Court’s decision to permit the screening of Sanal Sassidharan’s S Durga at the International Film Festival of India’s Panorama section.
The Kerala High Court has ordered that Malayalam film S Durga, earlier dropped by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry against the decision of the selection jury, should be screened at the IFFI 2017, in Goa.
A single judge bench led by Justice K. Vinod held that the movie can be screened at the film festival since it was awarded a ‘U/A’ certificate by the Central Board of Film Certification. It held that the decision of the jury was final and binding and the Ministry had no power to overrule it.
Fantastic!! The court has directed IFFI to screen #SexyDurga on the day #IndianPanorama is inaugurated. This is a huge victory for @sanalsasidharan and restores my faith in our democracy. I now look forward to attending the festival to watch the film! https://t.co/WXBQ66Ut5o— Apurva Asrani (@Apurvasrani) November 21, 2017
Asrani, who reportedly quit the jury panel to protest the exclusion of S Durga and Nude, told News18, “We as jury were proud to have programmed it.”
He added, “Why is a woman worshipped in a temple but treated as a mere sex object in our streets? S Durga explores that question brilliantly. I don’t know how and why it got dropped, but I have always believed that if our I & B minister, who is an empowered woman herself were to see this film, she would go all out to support it.”
Meanwhile, Sassidharan said, “I’m happy that the court has ordered the screening. This is the victory of cinema and those people who stood up for it and sacrificed a lot."
When asked if he’d now screen his film at IFFI despite all controversy, Sassidharan simply replied, “Yes.”
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