Protests by students mark screening of Kerala Story on FTII campus

Organised by MITEE Film Society, the screening that was scheduled to begin at 9.30 am was delayed by more than an hour owing to technical glitches.

Pune’s Guardian Minister and BJP leader Chandrakant Patil, who was among the invitees, did not turn up for the screening although director Sudipto Sen and producer Vipul Shah visited the venue and interacted with the audience.

Heavy police deployment was made at the institute with Deputy Commissioner of Police Sandip Singh Gill present on the campus to oversee the arrangements.

The FTIISA, which staged a protest outside the screening venue by raising slogans and beating drums, said the student community of the institute was not informed of this event or asked to be part of the proceedings.

“We believe it is our student community’s duty to denounce the vile propaganda that this film aims to unfurl… Not only are these stories false and present a wrong picture about the state of affairs that they claimed to have done research on, but also add fuel to the ongoing misguided and prejudiced debates about Muslim men forcefully converting women to Islam,” reads a statement issued by FTIISA.

“In addition to the violence and disenfranchisement, any such work that adds to the oppression of communities that are already threatened in our country needs to be met with defiance and that is where the student community of FTII stands,” adds the statement.

“Neither the propaganda in the film, nor the harm caused by it to our society, can go unchecked,” it further reads.

The students said their protest was “to express our opposition to the makers of this film, to the organisers of this event, and to our administration that allowed it a place on our campus.”

Milind Lele, president of MITEE Film Society, said the screening took place peacefully except for some disruption from some FTII students.

“The students had called for the protest against the screening but they went on to march to the theatre itself. The situation was ably brought under control by the timely intervention of the police. This aggressiveness was totally uncalled for on the part of students and was totally against the spirit of freedom of expression. The MITEE Film Society condemns this behaviour and expresses its trust in the peaceful interaction and propagation of thoughts,” said Lele.

After the screening, director Sen said that he spoke with the protesting students. “I have asked the students to watch the film before criticising it or calling it a propaganda film. They said that they were not allowed to enter. I have been told that a special screening can be arranged for them if they wish to watch the film,” said Sen.

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The institute campus is already in turmoil with students from the 2020 batch holding a hunger strike against the administration’s decision to remove a batchmate, mainly citing inadequate attendance and asking him to repeat a semester.