Malayalam director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan on Tuesday filed a petition in the Kerala High Court against the Information and Broadcasting ministry and IFFI officials over his film S Durga being dropped from the Panorama section of the festival.
Overruling the recommendation of the 13-member jury, the ministry pulled out Sasidharan's film and Marathi movie Nude from the 48th edition of the film festival, to be held in Goa from November 20 to 28.
"I want the ministry to go by the rule and not overlook the jury's decision. They should behave like a democracy, not a dictatorship," Sasidharan said.
The road movie about the horrifying experience of two hitchhikers at the hands of two men won the Hivos Tiger Award in the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2017.
The petition states that some fringe elements protested against the film, based on their misunderstanding that the original title 'Sexy Durga' referred to Goddess Durga.
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