THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Compounding the controversy which erupted during the announcement of Kerala State Film Awards for the year 2013, that the jury did not get to see all the 85 films considered for the award, an RTI query filed by a young filmmaker revealed that P Bharathiraja, the jury chairman, was here for only a few days.
According to the reply received to an RTI query filed by Sajin Babu, who directed ‘Unto the Dusk’, the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy said that screenings were held from March 17 to April 4. “Jury chairman Bharathiraja first arrived on March 19 evening and left on March 21 afternoon. Then he arrived on March 30 evening and left on April 4 afternoon,” the reply said.
“The reply from the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy makes it clear that the jury chairman could not have seen all the 85 films. How could he watch all the films in such a short period?” Sajin Babu asked.
However, Bharathiraja had said that the whole controversy was completely unnecessary and reiterated that he had stayed in Kerala for 12 days and had seen all the films which came up before the jury.