The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has dropped Ravi Jadhav’s Nude and Sanal Kumar Sasidharan’s S Durga (original title Sexy Durga) from the 48th International Film Festival of India that will be held in Panaji from November 20 to 28, Mumbai Mirror reported.
The decision was allegedly taken by the ministry without consulting the 13-member jury headed by Kahaani director Sujoy Ghosh. The movies were among the 26 entries chosen by the jury for the Indian Panorama section.
Nude is about a nude model from Mumbai, and was reportedly the jury’s unanimous choice as the opening film. It has now been replaced by Vinod Kapri’s Hindi film Pihu. S Durga explores misogyny and sexual violence in Kerala.
“The final list that has come out does not match the list we submitted,” jury member Ruchi Narain told Mumbai Mirror. “Personally, I felt Nude and S Durga were stunning quality films which festival audiences would really appreciate.” Jury member Gopi Desai also told the newspaper that the films were “were gems during the screening for the selection committee”. The members included filmmakers Rahul Rawail, Gyan Correa, Satarupa Sanyal, Nishikant Kamat, Nikkhil Advani, Apurva Asrani, and Hari Viswanath.
A source told Mumbai Mirror that the ministry’s decision went against Clause 8.5 of the Indian Panorama 2017 regulations, which states that “the decision of the juries shall be final and binding and no appeal or correspondence regarding their decision shall be entertained”.
