KOCHI; The Central Board of Film Certification(CBFC) on Monday informed the Kerala High Court that the maker and producer of the film S.Durga were promoting and publishing the film as S### Durga despite the modification of film title to S. Durga.
In an affidavit filed in response to a writ petition challenging the CBFC order suspending its certificate , the Board said that the act of the film maker was a brazen attempt to defeat the very purpose and object of the Censor Certificate. It went against the very letter and spirit of the modifications and alterations duly accepted by the petitioners.
The petitioners wanted to use the title of the film as Sexy Durga by merely paying lip service to the conditions stipulated at the time of the certification. The film was being explicitly published by the petitioners as Sexy Durga by using connotations as as S### Durga .The petitioners were “undermining and defeating” the very basis of the title registration and changes effected .
The film could not be screened at the recently concluded International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa in view of the suspension of the film certification.
In their petition, Shaji Mathew and Mr. Sasidharan, producer and director of the film respectively, said the order of the CBFC had prohibited screening of the film on “the puerile reasoning” that the white rectangular boxes in the title card of the film had different implication The order was void as it had been issued without notice to the petitioners and without hearing them. Thus, the statutory mandate had been violated. Besides, the CBFC had no power to suspend the certification already granted to a film. The objection by the CBFC was based on the subjective interpretations, they contended.
Eom.
