Ranjith pulls Njaan out of IFFK

Director Ranjith has said that he is withdrawing Njaan , which was released on Friday, from the International Film Festival of Kerala, to be held in Thiruvananthapuram from December 12 to 19.

“I do not want Njaan to be featured in the Malayalam Cinema Today section, as the authorities wished, and would have rather liked to be included in the Competition Section,” Ranjith told The Hindu on Saturday. “I do not have any complaints, but I had the freedom to wish that my Njaan would be screened in the Competition Section. I guess I also have the freedom to withdraw my film,” he said

Ranjith admitted that he was disappointed that

Njaan was not chosen for the Competition Section. “The feedback has been extremely positive to

Njaan and I believe it deserved to be in the Competition Section; it is a kind of film, I thought, that could represent Malayalam cinema in a festival like the IFFK,” he said

He said he was also surprised that

Munnariyippu, a film of which he is one of the producers, was not selected for any category at the IFFK. “It has been regarded as one of the best films of the year and I do not know why it had to be ignored like this,” he said.