Actors, filmmakers join rally to protest withdrawal of film from theatres

Icons of Bengali film industry, including Aparna Sen and Soumitra Chatterjee, took part in a rally here Sunday protesting withdrawal of political satire movie 'Bhobishyoter Bhoot' (Future Ghosts) from cinema halls in the city.

The film was allegedly withdrawn from single-screen theatres and multiplexes a day after its release on February 16. Director of the film, Anik Dutta, has alleged that the owners of the theatres were forced to stop the screening though it ran to packed houses in many places on the day it released.

Legendary actor Soumitra Chatterjee, directors Aparna Sen and Buddhadeb Dasgupta were among those who walked in the protest rally from Madhusudan Manch in Dhakuria to Jadavpur in south Kolkata.

Artistes and technicians from film studios, young film enthusiasts and students, wore skeleton and ghost masks with slogans demanding explanation for the withdrawal of the film from cinema halls. Some raised slogans alleging "silence of the administration and the ruling establishment" over this issue.

The story of the film revolves around a group of ghosts, including a politician, who assemble at a refugee camp and try to be relevant in the contemporary times. The film has Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Moon Moon Sen, Kaushik Sen and, veterans Barun Chanda and Paran Bandyopadhyay in leading roles.

Aparna Sen said banning a film passed by the censor board was akin to "throttling freedom of speech" and goes against democratic principles.

"This is nothing but fascism," she alleged.

Condemning the withdrawal of the film, multiple National Award winning director Buddhadeb Dasgupta said, "I had to physically join the protests. It is high time we raise our voice against such autocracy."
At an earlier protest meet, Chatterjee, who is 84, had said, "I am stunned. How can a film, passed by the Censor board, can be withdrawn from theatres in such a manner? It is autocracy."