The director of S Durga, Sanal Kumar Sasidharan has penned an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi explaining his reasons for not submitting his film for the National Film Awards. Sasidharan begins the letter by talking about the praise and recognition that S Durga has received at International Film Festivals, and yet was denied certification in India.
The reason why I am not sending this film to compete for the most coveted film award for an Indian film is that I am sure, in the light of personal experiences, that a judicious decision will not be taken in the case of my film. Permission was repeatedly not granted for showing this film in the Mumbai International Film Festival. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry under your Government had denied permission quoting the reason that the title of my film ‘Sexy Durga’ will hurt religious sentiments.
S Durga has been embroiled in controversies when it was not allowed to be screened at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in 2017.
He then went on to explain his reasons for taking up this subject to make S Durga in the first place.
My objective in the film was to raise the question of why a woman worshipped as Mother, Devi and the omnipotent Durga was treated on the streets as a sexual object by the male population of India, even if her name was Durga,. Though I wrote to the Information and Broadcasting Minister clarifying that the film is not about Devi Durga or that the film contains nothing to hurt the religious sentiments of anyone, and though around 2000 people had endorsed this letter, the Ministry did not back out from its standpoint against the film. The direction to me was to get the Censor certificate.
S Durga director warns about setting dangerous precedents when freedom of speech and expression is thwarted by the state.
I know nothing will happen to the National Film Awards just because I did not submit my film. But, if a citizen feels insecure that he cannot get justice from a Ministry that is bound to perform constitutionally, it has dangerous portents. You may not consider the International Film Festival or the National Film Awards so important as to come to your attention. But, I believe that if the very institutions that are meant to protect independent expressions of thoughts and freedom of opinion take a stand favourable to mob mentality, it is an extremely dangerous and serious situation. My non-submission may be a great relief to the Ministry. I don’t have the time to spend on court cases and skirmishes with the State. But, I am bringing all this to your kind attention only so that I should not be blamed for not telling you about the alarming situation that exists in this country.
Sasidharan ended the letter on a hopeful note and said, “I stop in the hope that this beautiful country that conjoins many differences of opinion and cultural divisions lives for long.”
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