Manish TewariNew Delhi, Nov 14 (PTI) Congress leader Manish Tewaritoday termed as "preposterous" the dropping of two films fromthe International Film Festival by the Information andBroadcasting Ministry and asked the creative community torevolt against what he described as "crude censorship".
Tewari said the interference with the jury decisions bythe Ministry is "a new low".
"PREPOSTEROUS - that I&B Ministry got two Films droppedfrom IFFI2017. Interference with Jury decisions a new LOW.
When Ministry tasked with defending freedom of speech andexpression becomes it's SLAYER it is time for the creativecommunity to revolt against this CRUDE censorship," he said onTwitter.
The directors of Malayalam movie 'S Durga' and Marathifilm 'Nude' alleged that the Information and BroadcastingMinistry has overruled the decision of the IFFI jury andpulled out their movies from the 48th edition of the filmfestival to be held in Goa later this month.
'S Durga' director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan and 'Nude'director Ravi Jadhav said they were shocked and disappointedby the decision to drop the films from the Panorama section.
A jury member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity,termed the ministry's decision as "unprecedented".
The ministry did not respond to the reports.
"The jury's recommendations are final and cannot bechanged without consulting them. But the ministry has goneahead and dropped the two films on its own," he said.
'Nude', he added, is so good that the 13-member Panoramajury, headed by Sujoy Ghosh, recommended it as the openingfilm for 48th International Film Festival of India in Goa fromNovember 20-28.
Ghosh has resigned as head of the jury of IFFI's IndianPanorama section following the controversy over the removal ofthe two films from the final selection.
'S Durga', which was earlier titled "Sexy Durga", is aroad movie that follows the horrifying experience of twohitchhikers, a man and a woman, at the hands of two men. Itwon the Hivos Tiger Award in the International Film FestivalRotterdam 2017.
'Nude' depicts the struggle of a woman secretly workingas a nude model in Mumbai. PTI SKCRCJ.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.