Controversial film S Durga emerges victorious as Kerala high court passes judgment in favour of the film

22 Nov 2017

Filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharans film S Durga or rather Sexy Durga faced several issues after I&B Ministry decided to drop the film from the ongoing film festival IFFI. The film that faced objections from a certain section also led to exit of two jury members from the festival, namely Bollywood filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh and writer Apurva Asrani. However, now after the makers decided to move the Kerala High Court on the matter, they can heave a sigh of relief since the court has passed a judgement favouring them. Sexy Durga faced objection on the grounds of offending Hindu religious sentiments over its title and followed by the case against the film, the Kerala High Court in a single bench headed by Justice K Vinod Chandran passed a judgement dismissing the objections. Relieved over the recent turn of events, Sanal took to Facebook to share the happy news saying, I usually dont celebrate victories. But this I cant stay away. This is the victory of cinema. This is the victory of our democracy. This is the victory of those people from jury who sacrificed. Cheers India! On the other hand, the two prominent Bollywood personalities who walked out of the festival owing to the way the films were dropped too expressed their happiness on the same. Terming that Sanals persistence has paid off, writer Apurva Asrani revealed about how great it is that they have now got a chance to see the film. Furthermore, he was also appreciative of I&B Minister Smriti Irani and called her an empowered woman and that she would love to see the film. However, the matter hasnt ended here as the IFFI officials have clarified that they havent received any official orders from the court about the film. Vani Tripathy Tikoo and director of the festival, Sunit Tandon have maintained that they havent received any such intimation from the court and that whatever they know is from the media reports. Miffed with the way the authorities are reacting to the matter, Sanal Sasidharan yet again took to social media to share his anger wherein he posted, IFFI director is evading the acceptance of the order of Honourable High court. The government is openly challenging the judicial system also. I have sent a mail with the court order. The learned government pleader must have informed them too. The ministry is going totally unconstitutional. Where this country is going to. According to recent media reports, the court has allowed the film S Durga to be screened in the Indian Panorama section of IFFI 2017. Besides this film, yet another regional language film that has faced a similar situation is Ravi Jadhavs Marathi social drama Nude.