After days of delay, the IFFI’s Indian Panorama jury will view the controversial film ‘S Durga’ on Monday evening, a jury member said on Sunday.
“We have been informed by IFFI that the film will be screened at 6 p.m. on Monday,” the jury member said on the condition of anonymity. The screening for the 10-member jury will be held at the festival grounds in Panaji.
Mumbai-based director and screenwriter Ruchi Narain also confirmed the screening of the film for the jury. “We have been informed about the screening details by IFFI,” she told IANS.
The Sanal Kumar Sasidharan film was dropped from the screening schedule of the 48th International Film Festival of India, along with another film ‘Nude’, triggering controversy.
Three members, including the head of the jury panel Sujoy Ghosh, have resigned from their position in protest against the dropping of the two films, while six jury members have written to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry raising concerns over the dropping, after they were cleared by the festival jury.
After Sasidharan petitioned the Kerala High Court, the court directed IFFI to screen the film at the festival, after a censored version of the movie was screened for the jury.
An appeal by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to stay the court direction was also rejected by the High Court on Friday.