IFFI 2017: S Durga director to file contempt of court petition as festival organisers fail to adhere to Kerala HC orders

The 48th International Film Festival (IFFI) commenced on 20 November with much pomp and show, amid a bevy of controversies surrounding the festival after the Information and Broadcasting Ministry excluded two movies — Malayalam film _S Durga_ by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan and Marathi drama Nude by Ravi Jadhav — from the Indian Panorama section of the festival. Much recently, on 21 November, the Kerala High Court overruled the I&B ministry's exclusion of these films, and in turn, directed IFFI to screen S Durga. But there has been no action taken either by the festival authorities or the ministry. In an interview with  newslaundry.com, S Durga helmer Sasidharan revealed that he is now opting to file a petition of contempt of court. [caption id=“attachment_4224029” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Still from S Durga (left); director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan (right). Images via Twitter[/caption] Sasidharan says, “What the ministry is doing is unlawful. They have no authority to overlook the jury’s decision, which is binding on all parties including the producer, the film festival director as well as the ministry. What is happening is totally unconstitutional.” He, commenting on the non observance of HC orders on the part of the IFFI authorities and I&B ministry, adds, “So far there has been no response and the future of the film at IFFI is still ambiguous. They are not ignoring me they are ignoring our country’s judicial system. This is totally unconstitutional, I am going for contempt of court. I am filing a contempt of court petition on 24 November.” Following the ministry’s decision to oust S Durga and Nude from IFFI 2017, jury members — Sujoy Ghosh (jury chairperson), Apurva Asrani and Gyan Correa — resigned from their posts. In addition to this, there was fuss around Padmavati and protests in favour and against the film’s release. Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar even asked Bollywood actors to boycott IFFI 2017 in protest against the current state of affairs.