Sujoy Has Done the Right Thing: Filmmakers React to IFFI Fiasco

Sujoy Ghosh, the jury head of IFFI, has resigned from his office.

Kahaani director Sujoy Ghosh has resigned from his position as the IFFI jury chief after the I&B ministry’s decision to drop Nude and S Durga from the Indian panorama section of the prestigious film festival. The Quint reached out to prominent filmmakers, including Ghosh, to talk about the move.

“I really don’t want to talk about it. My stepping down is my statement.”

Sujoy Ghosh, IFFI’s former chief of jury

“Definitely it is curbing of freedom of expression. It is a strange and unnecessary provocation that they have got into. I don’t see why films of different types should not be made and seen widely. I don’t think our Indian audience is so stupid that we don’t know how to make sense of it.”

Ratna Pathak Shah, Actor

“I don’t know the details, but if he has resigned because of the ministry’s interference in the selection of films, then I totally respect and support his decision.”

Kabir Khan, Filmmaker

Ravi Jadhav could not be reached telephonically, but his FB post is quite telling.

“So by what I know is that the jury selected few films and I&B Ministry removed two from the list without even consulting the jury. So then what Sujoy did is the right thing to do. I mean then they don’t need the jury, right? The entire jury should resign.”

Anubhav Sinha, Filmmaker

“The film Nude is basically about a life of a nude model. It has no vulgarity. Rather it talks about certain serious aspects of nudity, which as a society we haven’t really comprehended. On the step down, Sujoy Ghosh has done absolutely the right thing but just him taking a step won’t really help. We as a society and other members of the film fraternity also have a responsibility. The I&B Ministry has certain ideas of what the audience should watch and what they shouldn’t. They are not supposed to select the film, they are just supposed to run the festival! There is a selection committee for selection. So far if you see, films like Blue is the Warmest Colour have been screened at the festival, and it was way more controversial and sensational as compared to these two films which have been pulled out. It looks like they want to protect a certain image of India that they have in their mind.”

Ganesh Matkari, Film critic and writer

We also reached out to writer Apurva Asrani, but being a member of the jury himself, he declined to comment.