Kochi: The Kerala High Court has refused to stay a single-judge order to screen controversial Malayalam film S Durga at the ongoing International Festival of India (IFFI) but said the jury should first view the certified copy and approve it.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Antony Dominic and Justice A Muhamed Mustaque gave the order while admitting an appeal by the Centre against the single judge’s order.
“The certified version of the film S Durga will be viewed by the jury and on that basis, the film will be exhibited in the Indian Panorama of the IFFI,” the order said.
In its appeal against the single judge order, the government argued that the film though selected by the jury had not secured the exemption as required by the Panorama regulation in the absence of any certification from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). It also said the inclusion will upset arrangements at IFFI 2017 which ends on November 28.
Director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan had moved the court after the film was dropped from the Indian Panorama section of the festival along with the Marathi film Nude.
Both films were dropped by the ministry even though they were included in the Panorama list by a 13-member jury, prompting jury chief Sujoy Ghosh and members Apurva Asrani and Gyan Correa to resign in protest
S Durga narrates the horrifying experience of a hitchhiking couple and has won critical acclaim at film festivals abroad.
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