No direction from I&B Ministry yet on ‘S Durga’: IFFI Director

Panaji, Nov 22 (IANS) IFFI Director Sunit Tandon on Wednesday said there was no direction yet from the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry on the screening of Sanal Kumar Sasidharan's film "S Durga" at the festival, as ordered by the Kerala High Court on Tuesday.

In a dramatic moment on the sidelines of the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which is underway in Panaji, Tandon was questioned at a public interaction titled 'Open Forum: New Challenges in Organising Film Festivals' by the film's lead actor Kannan Nayar, as to when 'S Durga' would be screened at the gala.

Tandon, who quit the interaction mid-way, accepted a written application by Sasidharan, seeking a date for scheduling of the film, along with a copy of the High Court order which on Tuesday directed the festival authorities to screen the film. But he gave no formal commitment.

Asked by media persons whether the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry had communicated its direction on the 'S Durga' screening issue, Tandon said: "I will let you know whenever I hear it".

Kannan told IANS that a copy of the film had arrived in Goa and all those associated with the film, were only waiting for the IFFI organisers to give them a date for screening.

"We are ready. We have given an application today seeking to know when we will be allowed to screen at IFFI along with a copy of the Kerala High Court order. The ball is in their court now," Kannan said.

He also said that efforts earlier in the day to submit a copy of the application from the director of the film and a court order to the office of the festival director had failed, because his office personnel would not allow him to submit the documents.

"That is the reason why I was forced to ask him about the issue at an open forum like this," Kannan said.