New Delhi:
The Delhi High Court directed the Centre to explain the reasons for rejecting the movie Ekhon Nedekha NadirXipaare, as non-Assamese at this year's National Film Awardsdespite it being cleared by the Censor Board as Assamese.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri andJustice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw issued notice to Information andBroadcasting Ministry, Directorate of Film Festival andchairperson and jury of the 59th National Film Festival andsought their response by next week.
"We would like to know the basis on which the film wasrejected as Assamese film for the 59th film festival 2011,"the bench said while hearing a PIL filed by enajori.com, asociety to promote films, seeking direction to set aside thedecision of jury members to reject the film.
The film, directed by Bidyut Kotoky, stars veteran VictorBanerjee, Sanjay Suri, Raj Zutshi, Priti Jhangiani and BiditaBag among others. It also has a Hindi version As the RiverFlows.
The National Awards were announced in March and thedistribution ceremony will be held in May.
In his writ petition, the petitioner alleged that byrejecting the film in the regional language, the jury deprivedthe Assamese film industry from participating in thecompetition.
The court asked the petitioner to implead the NationalFilm Development Corporation (NFDC) as party in the PIL.According to the PIL, the film was rejected on the groundthat some dialogues were in Hindi and English due to whichthis could not be considered as Assamese film.
The petition further said the jury members selected afilm as best in the regional language category (I Am) whichwas shot at various places in Kashmir, Kolkata, Bangalore andMumbai and the dialogues were in Hindi, English and Kashmiribut Ekhon Nedekha Nadir Xipaare was not considered asAssamese which is "illegal".
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri andJustice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw issued notice to Information andBroadcasting Ministry, Directorate of Film Festival andchairperson and jury of the 59th National Film Festival andsought their response by next week.
"We would like to know the basis on which the film wasrejected as Assamese film for the 59th film festival 2011,"the bench said while hearing a PIL filed by enajori.com, asociety to promote films, seeking direction to set aside thedecision of jury members to reject the film.
The film, directed by Bidyut Kotoky, stars veteran VictorBanerjee, Sanjay Suri, Raj Zutshi, Priti Jhangiani and BiditaBag among others. It also has a Hindi version As the RiverFlows.
The National Awards were announced in March and thedistribution ceremony will be held in May.
In his writ petition, the petitioner alleged that byrejecting the film in the regional language, the jury deprivedthe Assamese film industry from participating in thecompetition.
The court asked the petitioner to implead the NationalFilm Development Corporation (NFDC) as party in the PIL.According to the PIL, the film was rejected on the groundthat some dialogues were in Hindi and English due to whichthis could not be considered as Assamese film.
The petition further said the jury members selected afilm as best in the regional language category (I Am) whichwas shot at various places in Kashmir, Kolkata, Bangalore andMumbai and the dialogues were in Hindi, English and Kashmiribut Ekhon Nedekha Nadir Xipaare was not considered asAssamese which is "illegal".
Regional, National Film Development Corporation, Delhi High Court, Censor Board, National Film Awards, Directorate Of Film Festival, Information And Broadcasting Ministry, Acting Chief Justice, Rajiv Sahai Endlaw, The 59th National Film Festival, Bidita Bag, Raj Zutshi, Victor Banerjee, Sanjay Suri, Priti Jhangiani, Bangalore, Kolkata, Nadir Xipaare
