Anand Patwardhan's award-winning documentary film Ram Ke Naam will be screened on the Jadavpur University campus at 6 pm today "in solidarity with students of the University of Hyderabad" -- six of whom were detained for trying to screen it on August 20.
However, Presidency University students said that the authorities have denied them permission to screen the film tomorrow. The authorities, when contacted, said that permission had not been sought to screen this particular film.
The students confirmed this. "But we never thought Presidency authorities would not permit the screening of an award-winning film against communalism," Kalpok Guha, one of the organisers of the screening, said. "We will seek permission from university authorities afresh today."
On August 20, police had "stormed" the University of Hyderabad's sociology department when the administration complained that the students were screening Ram Ke Naam in the department's auditorium without permission.
Sources said that Presidency University had permitted students to book the college auditorium for the screening, but once authorities came to know about the name of the film to be screened, the organisers were told to cancel the event.
Kalpok Guha said they had applied for permission on Thursday before Dean of Students Arun Maiti and booked the auditorium. The usual practice is just that: Submit letter to dean, book hall and go ahead with the programme. But once he put out an event notice on Facebook with the name of the film, the dean phoned him and said that permission cannot be given.
Kalpok cancelled the event, and in his statement on Facebook, said: "The whole incident is condemnable. By banning the screening of the National Award-winning film, the university authorities have -- in effect -- strengthened the hands of communal forces and once again tarnished Presidency's exceptional progressive history."
Some students said one of the factors that may have prompted the authorities to deny permission must be the proximity of the state BJP office to the university. Presidency is located on College Street in central Kolkata while the BJP office is located behind its boundary wall on Muralidhar Sen Street.
At Jadavpur University, the film is being hosted by students of the Department of Film Studies. The posters for the screening clearly say: "In solidarity with the students of the University of Hyderabad and against the Indian state's censorship of our Freedom of Expression."
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