The Dakshinayan Abhiyan, Goa, on Wednesday took exception to the decision taken by the I&B Mnistry to exclude two films — Nude and S Durga — from the Indian Panorama section in the forthcoming International Film Festival of India by overriding the jury’s choice.
“A gross violation of the right to freedom of expression, we consider this act as an attempt to suppress creativity. As the festival is held in Goa, it also reflects badly on the image of the State that is known for excellent harmony and tolerance,” said Dakshinayan, Goa chief Datta Naik in a press release issued here.
“It is ridiculous to consider the term ‘sexy’ and ‘nude’ as vulgar. It is pertinent to note that at the 47th IFFI last year the film Love, the sexually explicit one which was highly graphic in nature, was screened and obviously the I&B Ministry had no objection to it. Therefore, there is every reason to believe that this year the authorities are behaving arbitrarily and selectively. The film Nude is supposed to be highlighting women’s safety in patriarchal society. The board of certification had objected to the term ‘sexy’ and changed the title to S Durga. It is also reported that Durga being a Hindu goddess the authorities believe that it is likely to hurt the religious sentiments. In fact, S Durga is a story about the callous attitude of men towards the violence meted out to women,” said Mr. Naik. and added that interestingly, S Durga was awarded the Hivos Tiger award at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam.
“We appreciate the ‘no show’ decision of some of the film makers and call upon the Government to retract the decision with immediate effect by allowing screening of the two films thereby restoring the credibility of the jury and of the IFFI,” said Mr. Naik.