THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CBFC has sprung a surprise just when the IFFK organisers decided to let bygones be bygones and organise a special screening of Sanal Kumar Sasidharan’s S Durga. The Board on Tuesday withdrew the U/A certification it had granted S Durga on October 10, and has called for a re-certification. The Chalachithra Academy is now uncertain about the special screening. Though the films featured at IFFK do not require a censor certification, their screening requires the consent of the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry. “We will send a letter seeking permission but, given the circumstances, I am not sure whether they will respond in time,” Chalachithra Academy chairman and filmmaker Kamal said. The usual practice is for the IFFK to send a list of films, with their synopsis, to the I&B Ministry. “They are normally okayed without a thought. But we live in abnormal times,” the chairman said.
Last year, the Centre had refused permission for the screening of Jayan K Cherian’s ‘Ka Bodyscapes’. The filmmaker went to the court and secured a favourable verdict. “After the High Court nod, we went ahead and screened ‘Ka Bodyscapes’ at IFFK without bothering to seek the Centre’s approval,” Kamal said. The Academy’s decision to give ‘S Durga’ a special screening, like in the case of ‘Ka Bodyscapes’, is intended as a political protest, a counter to the Centre’s intolerance.
However, this time Kamal is not sure whether he will go the distance. “If we screen S Durga without the Centre's sanction, they might even cancel the IFFK,” Kamal said. But he said no film should suffer the fate of ‘S Durga’. Mr Sasidharan had earlier pulled his film out of the IFFK after his film failed to make it to the Competition section and was included in the Malayalam Cinema Now section. Mr Sasidharan had then said that he did not want the “consolation” of the Malayalam Cinema Now section as his film had received many internationals laurels. He wanted the section reserved for Malayalam films that needed promotion.
After the problems the film faced at IFFI in Goa, Kamal personally called up Sasidharan. “I told him that we would like to screen ‘S Durga’ if he was willing. He told me he was only happy to screen the film at IFFK,” Kamal said. Academy vice chairperson and IFFK’s artistic director Beena Paul said: “This was a time when we had to stand by Sanal.” The fiommaker had earlier said that Ms Paul had insulted his film. The Censor Board's regional officer Dr Pratibha, who wrote to the film’s producer informing him of the withdrawal of certification, said that the Board had received complaints that the title of the film had three X marks after the S of the title. “This is an attempt to defeat the very basis of the title registration and changes effected,” the letter said. The film was granted censorship on October after the makers agreed to change the title from ‘Sexy Durga’ to S Durga, and also to delete three Malayalam vulgar words.
