Information and Broadcasting Ministry officials do not have to watch films before rejecting their applications for an exemption certificate to be screened at festivals.
As per the policy for Certification of Films for Film Festivals, a copy of which is available with The Hindu , the process of clearing a film does not mandate that the film be watched before a decision is made.
Since 2016, uncensored films can be screened at the festival, on the condition that they receive an exemption certificate from the Ministry.
The applications for exemption certificates are processed by the Joint Secretary of the Ministry.
Six documents
The policy states that the director of the festival has to send in six documents: a list of films to be screened, synopsis of each of the films, composition of the preview committee, report of the preview committee certifying that the films have been recommended for exhibition at the festival, a certificate from the director of the festival to the effect that the screening of such films would be limited to delegates and a certificate from the director of festival to the effect that the festival is non-commercial in nature.
The same process was followed in the present case. The application for exemption certificate for Sexy Durga was rejected on 19th September by the Ministry when the film was shortlisted among 168 films to be screened at Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star 2017.
A letter from I & B Ministry Under Secretary P K Jha told MAMI that there were “grievances against its title” and “it may affect the law and order as it hurts the religious sentiments, Durga being a principal Hindu goddess.”
A senior official from the Ministry said, “There is a technical reason for not including Sexy Durga . It got a certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification by changing its title to S Durga and edited out cuss words. As per the CBFC rules, once the film is censored no other version can be exhibited anywhere else.”
Early submission
Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, the director of S Durga , said the CBFC certificate came on October 10, but he had had to submit the film for IFFI in July, which is why the uncensored version was submitted.
In the case of Nude , the government had maintained that “technically” the film was not complete since the post production work had not yet been completed.
However, according to sources, the objections against Nude were the same as Sexy Durga . “The title is vulgar and its storyline is objectionable,” said a senior official.
