IFFI jury watches 'S Durga'; suspense continues over screening

Panaji: The IFFI’s Indian Panorama jury watched the censored version of controversial Malayalam film S Durga on Monday, but the suspense over its screening at the festival continued, with jury head Rahul Rawail saying the Information and Broadcasting Ministry would take a final call on the matter.

The jury has submitted its report to the ministry, and a final decision on the film’s screening at the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which comes to an end on Tuesday, was yet to be taken, Rawail said. The recent development on the public screening of the film has left its director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan disappointed.

Sasidharan, who had earlier moved the Kerala High Court against the ministry’s decision to drop the film, called the whole process a “dirty game”. Rawail said the final decision was yet to be made and that he was not sure when the Malayalam film would be screened at the IFFI.

“I cannot say anything at this point of time. The report has been handed over to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and it will forward the report to the court. After the final decision is made, I will be open to talk (to you),” he told reporters here.

The censored version of the Malayalam film, which was excluded from the Panorama by the ministry, was screened for the jury of the section at 5.30 pm on Monday. Director Satish Kaushik, who also attended the screening, said the jury has decided to send a report to the ministry, which will take the final call.

“Jury has taken the decision… The report has been submitted to the ministry… Now it will take the final call on the screening of the film soon,” he said.