Looking at the present scenario, it would be apt to say that the element of freedom of speech is fighting to survive every day in our country. We tend to get offended and our levels of intolerance seem to be spiking. It doesn’t matter which field you work in, you will often find someone or the other curbing your right of expression. And filmmakers these days are falling victim to this menace.
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Be it Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Padmavati’ or Ravi Jadhav’s ‘Nude’, people always find a reason to not like something about the content of the films. Which often makes us wonder about what happened to the liberty of expressing your views on the silver screen?
Despite being recommended by a 13-member jury to be the opening film for the Indian Panorama section at the 48th International Film Festival of India, director Ravi Jadhav’s Marathi film was dropped out of the final list of the major movie festival.
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Well, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting dropped the film along with another critically acclaimed Malayalam Film ‘S Durga’ (which was screened in Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival) from the list of the movies that are being shown this year at IFFI.
Such interference makes us question why is there even the need of a jury when I&B Ministry tends to interfere and not even give a clarification about its absurd decision?
A lot of debate has been going around this issue and recently filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh who was heading the panel resigned after this decision by the government.
However, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who heads the State-owned Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), which co-hosts IFFI, said on Wednesday that Nude was dropped because it was not fully complete, reports The Hindu.
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“Nude is not even complete. Even if it is selected by the jury, if it is not completed and unless it gets a certificate from Board for film Certification, unless the entire procedure is complete and it is ready, it cannot be screened. There will be an issue with the Cinematography Act,” Parrikar said.
Amidst all this, the makers of ‘Nude’ have finally released the teaser of the film which the government surely doesn’t want us to see.
The clip gives us a peek into the story of a poor woman (Kalyanee Mulay) who leaves her husband and comes to live with her aunt (Chhaya Kadam) in Mumbai. And finally, she comes to the classroom of Sir JJ School of Art in Mumbai to discover what her aunt does to earn her living.
Acting Master Naseeruddin Shah plays the role of an art teacher who concludes the teaser saying, “Beta kapada jism pe pehnaya jaata hai…rooh pe nahi aur mein aapne kaam mein rooh khozne ki koshish karta hoon. Samjh mein aaya? (Clothes are meant to cover the body, not the soul. And I, through my art, am attempting to seek the soul. Do you understand?)”
Well, the title of the film might lead you to form some judgment but the film takes an artistic route to take us through the journey of the main protagonist of the film.
There is absolutely no nudity in the teaser and the story has been presented in a very beautiful manner. ‘Nude’ might make you uncomfortable as it is questioning life and people in a way, but it doesn’t look like a film that should have been banned! How about we don’t judge a book by its cover?
© RaviJadhav Films
Check out the teaser here and let’s be glad there is still no censorship of the digital medium (for now) or the teaser wouldn’t have seen the light of the day!