Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday lashed out at those behind the criticism of the organisers of the IFFI, stating that the two films were dropped from the Indian Panorama section of the festival because of valid grounds.
Parrikar heads the Entertainment Society of Goa, a State Government agency, which organises the International Film Festival of India in the coastal State every November, in partnership with the Union Ministry for Information and Broadcasting. Parrikar said that efforts were being made to create a controversy out of nothing and that the films Nude by Ravi Jadhav and Sexy Durga by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan were dropped for valid reasons. “They said that in two other film festivals, the film Sexy Durga was shown with cuts, MAMI in Mumbai and Kerala Film Festival. They had even changed it’s name. It was censored. Here... the film was given without censorship,” Parrikar told reporters.
Jadhav's movie Nude, Parrikar said, was not even complete and questioned as to how it could be screened at the festival, which gets underway in Goa on November 20.
"Nude movie is not even complete. Even if it is selected (by the jury), if it is not completed and unless it gets a censor certificate, unless the entire procedure is complete and it is ready, it cannot be screened. There will be an issue with the cinematography act," the Goa Chief Minister said.
"According to my information, without censor certificate, no movie can be shown. It cannot be distributed also," Parrikar also said.
Asked how an "incomplete film" could land up on the jurys' table, Parrikar said: "I do not know. I cannot speak about that".
The unceremonious dropping of the two films from the screenings in the Indian Panorama section has triggered controversy, especially after jury of the section Sujoy Ghosh resigned from the position in protest.