The Information & Broadcasting Ministry has blacklisted a man for allegedly charging money from film festival organisers to facilitate the permission for the exemption of films from the certification requirements for their screening in film festivals.
The organisers, agencies and the other entities concerned have been advised to submit their applications to the Ministry for the purpose.
Stating that the man, Santanu Ganguly, had been misleading various film festival organisers across the country by claiming to be connected to the Ministry, the order said that he charged money from the organisers “in lieu of facilitation for permission of exemption of films from the provisions of certification for their screening in film festivals”.
The order noted that Mr. Ganguly had been found to be inquiring about the status of many such proposals received by the Ministry even though he was not connected to them.
“Mr. Ganguly, in the recent past i.e. on December 30, 2022, had forwarded an email to a film festival organiser, namely Rigger House LLP (Mumbai), raising a bill of ₹40,000... to arrange the exemption order from the Ministry for the film Vadhandhi screened in the Prasad Film Lab in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on December 15, 2022...,” it said.
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The Ministry exempts the exhibition of any film or class of films from the provisions of certification under Section 9 of the Cinematograph Act as per the policy for certification of films for film festivals vide office memorandum dated January 17, 2006, without charging any fee. It stipulates that screenings in such film festivals should be strictly non-commercial and limited to delegates.
Taking cognisance of the alleged fraudulent activities of Mr. Ganguly, the I&B Ministry blacklisted him. “No application for exemption of films from the provisions of certification for their screening in film festivals received from him will be entertained in future. Film festival organisers of the country including foreign embassies based in India are also cautioned to take care while dealing with a tout/intermediary/fraudulent person like Mr. Ganguly,” said the Ministry.
Through another order, it cautioned the organisers, associated organisations and individuals against such persons. “...it has also been observed that these unauthorised persons often inquire about the status of the applications for screening exemption of the films to be screened in various film festivals which are received in the Ministry and charge money from the film festival organisers in lieu of the permission of exemption,” it noted.
The Ministry said it adopts a “very transparent way in dealing with issuance of sanction of the screening exemption in a non-commercial film festival as per the standard guidelines already set, relevant provisions of extant rules and regulations and established norms already put in practice after receiving the requisite documents from the applicants without any prescribed fees or cost involved in the entire process”.
