A Kerala High Court division bench refused to stay a single-judge order to screen a certified copy of Malayalam film S Durga at the 48th International Film Festival of India (Iffi) in Goa.
India’s ruling government had on Thursday filed an appeal before the division bench.
The government’s counsel pointed out that including the film at the ongoing Iffi would disturb the schedule.
However, the division bench refused the stay and took the petition on the case file.
S Durga, a Malayalam movie directed by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, and Ravi Jadhav’s Marathi movie Nude were controversially dropped by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry from the screening schedule of the Indian Panorama Section, despite the jury’s approval.
The crew of S Durga is uncertain over whether the film will be screened at all.
On Friday, Iffi organisers wrote to director Sasidharan asking him to submit a censored version of the film for consideration.
A letter from Sunit Tandon, director of Iffi, was uploaded on a social media site by Sasidharan late on Friday.
In the letter, Tandon asked him to submit copies of the film to the festival authorities, as per directions of the Kerala High Court.
