Following protests against the release and screening of Santosh Sivan’s ‘Inam’, five scenes that depicted the humane side of Sinhalese soldiers as well as the death of LTTE chief V Prabhakaran were clipped.
The story that revolves around an orphanage caught in the crossfire between LTTE and the Sri Lankan government forces, looks at the war through the eyes of eight young orphans, including a teenager with Down’s syndrome. The film released across the State despite protests from the Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK) at the Police Commissioner’s Office in the city on Thursday, asking for the film to be banned.
The screening of the film, which was released on Friday, was stopped after activists of the party attacked a theatre.
In Puducherry, just before the matinee show, TPDK activists attacked Balaji Theatre. Window panes were broken, banners and cut outs of the film were set on fire. Police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the protestors. Police later registered an FIR against some of the activists, but no arrests were made.
TPDK activists said the film projects the Lankan civil war in bad light. Alleging that the director had justified the atrocities, the TPDK lodged a complaint with the police, seeking that the screening be stopped.
Producer of the film, N Lingusamy, exhibited the film to members of various Tamil groups and the Director’s Union. Based on their recommendations, 5 scenes were removed from the film. “The scenes in which the words ‘leader is dead’, those that have a dead Sinhalese soldier holding a photo of his daughter, a Buddhist monk giving children a pomegranate and scenes in a school have been cut,” he said. The dedication of the film to the ‘38,000 lives lost in the genocide’, was also removed, he said.