With two films being pulled out by the information and broadcasting ministry from this year's IFFI, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is the chief of a nodal agency for the annual festival, today said one of these movies didn't have the censor board certificate.
Overruling the recommendations of the 13-member jury, the ministry had dropped Malayalam movie "S Durga" and Marathi movie "Nude" from the 48th Edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) to be held in Goa from November 20 to 28.
Three jury members have resigned after the ministry's decision - filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh, head of the jury of IFFI's Indian Panorama section, scriptwriter Apurva Asrani and filmmaker Gyan Correa.
"What information I have got is that the film 'Nude' is not a complete movie. It is without a censorship certificate, so we cannot show it in the IFFI. We can't show the film without the censorship certificate," Parrikar told reporters in Panaji today.
He is the chairman of Entertainment Society of Goa, the nodal agency to host the IFFI.
"The decision to drop 'S Durga' from the festival was taken to avoid the sentiments of any community from getting hurt," he said.
"The film was part of two festivals, including MAMI in Mumbai and Kerala Film Festival, but it was shown after adequate cuts to avoid any feelings to be hurt. It was submitted to IFFI without any cuts," Parrikar said.
He said according to the rules of the festival, a film cannot be shown with cuts in IFFI.
"S Durga", which was earlier titled Sexy Durga, is a road movie that follows the horrifying experience of two hitchhikers, a man and a woman, at the hands of two men. It won the Hivos Tiger Award in the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2017.
The Marathi film "Nude", directed by Ravi Jadhav, depicts the struggle of a woman secretly working as a nude model in Mumbai.
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