S Durga actors call IFFI officials 'puppets'; condemn Mollywood's apathy

In a large country like India which has a staggering population of 1.32 billion people and prides itself in its unity and diversity, who decides what’s sexy and what isn’t? At a time when social awareness and the fight for equality is at an all-time high, can someone actually define the sensibility of the average Indian in an attempt to refine it?

Controversies surrounding the Sanal Kumar Sasidharan-directed S Durga seem to suggest that Indians are infants who must be spoon-fed from time to time about the difference between what is real as opposed to what is reel.

This Malayalam movie, originally titled Sexy Durga, ran into trouble with the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) and after the filmmaker rather reluctantly accepted the suggestion for a title change, the movie had its Indian premiere at the Mumbai Film Festival. In the three screenings held in various parts of the city, the movie received standing ovations and was lauded for its technical aspects as well as the uncomfortable questions posed by the director to the society.

As the movie continued its journey from one festival to the next, the controversy surrounding the movie grew to a gargantuan proportion and it has now reached a point where it has turned into one man’s battle against the system. It has enough material to serve as the plot for a full-blown commercial movie, unlike the ones made by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan.

The issue began when S Durga, along with the Marathi movie Nude, was rejected by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India, despite being selected by the jury of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI). The first seeds of protest were sown when filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh resigned as the jury chairman of the 48th edition of this film festival.

Firstpost caught up with Kannan Nayar and Arun Sol, the two actors who play principal characters in this movie to get further insights into this issue.

Talking about the main contention, both actors believe that the title works perfectly for the movie, as it is the very name of the central character whilst also being a social commentary on how we simultaneously treat women as goddesses and as sex objects the very next moment, without realising the grave irony in our behaviour. “It is a movie on sexual harassment and how this behaviour is perpetrated as second nature. There are no digs at caste or religion or politics. There is no nudity or vulgarity or titillation in the movie,” says Arun, pleading to the powers that be to allow the movie to be screened for everyone and allow them to have an insight into the duality of people’s actions and thoughts.

As someone who has been at the centre of the entire controversy that unfolded in IFFI Goa, Kannan seems to be comparatively less composed than his co-star and sounded infuriated with the entire proceedings. “The film festival should be called a drama festival because of the amount of acting and unnecessary scenes staged by the festival committee,” lambasts Kannan. Calling out the committee for delaying the screening of the movie despite the filmmaker having acquired the necessary documents and the court order, Kannan says, “They were inventing excuses. Each and every time they found a new reason to make us run around in circles without a clear end in sight. It is nothing but a criminal conspiracy.”

After chasing the festival committee members for days on end to get them to screen a movie that was selected by the same committee, Kannan believes the turning point came when he voiced his difficulties on an open forum during the festival and the national media picked up the issue from there. “The lethargy and willful delay in doing their job is appalling. The festival committee members acted as mere puppets,” laments Kannan, as he talks about the state of a movie which has been screened at over 60 international film festivals.

Expressing disbelief over how the same movie is viewed differently by neighbouring states, the actors spoke about how the Mumbai Film Festival not only acknowledged the movie’s ambition but also gave it a special jury award. Despite the growing accolades garnered by the movie across the world and the appreciation it has received from cinephiles in Mumbai, the movie is now being discussed for the title and not its content.

According to Arun, the only silver lining amidst was the backing of the original committee members who tried their best to get the movie screened at the festival, as well as the national media. While the movie did receive support from the mainstream media considering that Sasidharan went against the might of I&B ministry, the silence from the regional media and Malayalam film industry is startling. “It is the first Malayalam movie to win an award in Yugoslavia and one of the very few movies to be celebrated worldwide. It is just disappointing that my film industry didn’t quite back the movie when we needed their support,” says Arun. He adds that it was extremely saddening sight to see a filmmaker holding a placard and protesting for the screening of a critically acclaimed film.

Accusing certain sections of the Kerala film industry of harbouring pre-conceived notions and enmity against the filmmaker for his political affiliation in the past, Kannan was further disgruntled by the fact that the makers felt helpless even though a considerable number of IFFI delegates were from Kerala. “In Kerala, they see Sasidharan as a sanghi and the ones on the outside see him as a staunch leftist. He is lost in the middle.”

Kannan believes that the injustice meted out to the movie and the collective silence exhibited by the Malayalam film industry and influencers is the start of a very dangerous slide. “It is the collective downfall of certain intellectuals in the cinema fraternity. The selectiveness and favouritism in their criticism and outrage is a reflection of how their progressiveness is just a façade,” says Kannan, and the sense of resignation is evident from his tone.

With the certification delayed and the director preparing to fight out this battle in the courts, the movie will continue to be in the news for unnecessary reasons. “The title was not used for publicity. The subject and treatment warranted such a title. I just don’t know how this snowballed into such a major issue,” says Arun, emphasising why art continues to be censored and restricted excessively.

Almost all the actors of S Durga are debutants, and as a result of the movie not getting a wide release, all their careers have been put on a temporary hold because of the negative publicity surrounding their maiden venture. “To be honest, I took up the movie because it was directed by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan. I trusted his sensibilities and abilities. This is his movie and this particular subject deserves an audience. Our personal career is less important than the movie and that’s how it will be,” said Arun in a defiant tone defending his movie S### Durga.