I&B Min drops 2 films from IFFI, Ghosh quits as jury head

Sujoy Ghosh, the veteran Bollywood director, has resigned as the head of the jury of Indian Panorama.

Because the Information and Broadcasting ministry dropped two films without consulting the jury panel.

One of them was the opening film of Indian Panorama with its World Premiere.

The 13-member panel headed by Sujoy Ghosh had previewed 153 entries and had selected 26 feature films and 16 non-feature films. However, the final list announced by the I&B Ministry did not figure two major films.

Ravi Jadhav’s Marathi film ‘Nude’ was the opening film of Indian Panorama and it was the World Premiere.

It is now replaced with Vinod Kapri’s Hindi film Pihu.                                              

Malayalam film ‘Sexy Durga’ by young director Sanal Sasidharan is another film that is being dropped.

This film created waves at different international film festivals.

The decision to drop both the films without consulting the panel of juries has received criticism from the film fraternity as well as opposition parties.

Sasidharan on his facebook page has written that it’s a strong case against the ministry.

He has even accused I&B Minister SmrutiIrani of misusing her constitutional powers.

He feels it’s a strong case to make her ineligible for the post. 

Marthi film actor Renuka Shahane has condemned the decision in her tweet.

She has also appealed to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to do something against dropping the excellent Marathi film like Nude.

She calls the action of strangulating the film industry.