Proud of Sanal for believing in 'S Durga': Apurva Asrani

Film writer and editor Apurva Asrani on Tuesday said he is proud that filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan believed in his movie "S Durga" and fought for justice in having it screened at the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI).

A single bench of the Kerala High Court has directed that the Malayalam film "S Durga" be screened at the ongoing movie gala in Goa.

"Fantastic! The court has directed IFFI to screen 'Sexy Durga' on the day Indian Panorama is inaugurated. This is a huge victory for Sanal Sasidharan and restores my faith in our democracy. I now look forward to attending the festival to watch the film," Asrani tweeted.

Asrani had resigned from the feature film jury of the 48th IFFI's Indian Panorama section over the exclusion of "S Durga" and "Nude" from the final list, after filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh had put in his papers as the jury head in response to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry's decision to overrule their word.

In a statement, Asrani said: "Why is a woman worshipped in a temple but treated as a mere sex object on our streets? 'S Durga' explores that question brilliantly and we as jury were proud to have programmed it. I don't know how and why it got dropped, but I have always believed that if our Information and Broadcasting Minister, who is an empowered woman herself, were to see this film, she would go all out to support it.

"I'm proud of Sanal for believing in his film and for fighting to get it screened at such an important festival."

The acting jury head of IFFI, Rahul Rawail, however, told IANS he had no clue about the development.

"I have heard about it, but I don't have any official communication on it. So, I can't comment on it."

IFFI Festival Director Sunit Tandon is yet to comment.

--IANS

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