Now ‘nationalist’ NGO wants IFFI to drop ‘S Durga’ screening

Panaji, Nov 25 (IANS) A day after IFFI reached out to "S Durga" director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan following a Kerala High Court rap over screening of the controversial film, a Goa-based NGO on Saturday appealed to the festival's organisers not to screen the film, saying it may hurt sentiments of Hindus.

The Goa-based Rashtrapremi Nagrik, in its memorandum to Sunil Tandon, the director of the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), said that IFFI would face ridicule if the "provocatively titled" movie if screened.

"You can't censor imagination. In the film, the rituals of appeasing Goddess Durga walking over burning coal and piercing their skin with metal have been shown as bizarre rituals when they are very much a part of worship of the Goddess," the memorandum read.

"The court may have given the direction to show this film in IFFI. We respect the court, but you can't ignore the sentiments of crores of Hindus who worship Goddess Durga. Currently, there are issues going regarding the film 'Padmavati'. So, showing this film at IFFI will add in more controversies," the statement added.

The last few days had seen a standoff between the makers of "S Durga" and the festival authorities over screening of the controversial film, which was one of the two films to be dropped from the screening schedule of IFFI's Indian Panorama section.

Tandon reached out to the "S Durga" makers late on Friday, only after the Kerala High Court, despite a request from the Union Ministry for Information and Broadcasting, also refused to stay its earlier order, which had directed festival authorities to screen the film.

The cast of the film, which is present at the festival, had also accused IFFI organisers of harassment and succumbing to political pressure, which they said was the reason why the film was not being screened at the festival.