Amidst simmering controversy over the film ‘S Durga’, previously titled ‘Sexy Durga’, 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’.
The allegation was raised in a counter affidavit filed before the court by the regional officer of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in Thiruvananthapuram. The affidavit comes days after the film’s producer Shaji Mathew and director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan filed a writ petition challenging denial of certification for public screening.
The affidavit alleged that it was a deliberate and brazened attempt from the makers of the film to defeat the powers of checks and balances that have been enshrined with CBFC and the central government and tried to defeat the directions issued by CBFC, reports TOI.
The Central Board of Film Certification also alleged that, “The film is being implicitly and explicitly publicized by the petitioners as ‘Sexy Durga’ by using connotations such as ‘S### Durga’, which clearly demonstrate that the petitioners are intending to effectively undermine and defeat the very basis of the title registration,” added the report.
The government also pointed out that the film is named as ‘Sexy Durga’ on the promotional page on Facebook. The government also found objections in another Facebook post that said ‘Sexy Durga’ will be released in Indian cinemas as ‘S Durga’ and added that “S is a letter open for your imaginations”.
These were the points highlighted by the CBFC alleging that the petitioners have approached the court for justice while their own hands are muddied in violating the norms put forward by CBFC.
‘S Durga’ was supposed to be screened at the prestigious International Film Festival of India, but wasn’t because it didn’t get the nod from the country’s Central Board of Film Certification due to its so-called volatile content. The film was also not screened in the recent IFFK, Kerala and the director Sanal Kumar had hosted a parallel film festival called Kazhcha Indie Film Fest (KIFF).