IFFI authorities defend themselves

Thursday, November 30, 2006
Panaji, (UNI): Reacting to noted Malayalam director T V Chandran's outburst over their alleged bias against the south Indian cinema, the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) authorities yesterday said his comments were ''subjective and far from the truth''.

Malayalam and other south India cinema were adequately represented in the Indian Panorama, they said.

Mr Chandran had at a press conference on Tuesday severely criticised the authorities for their alleged Bollywood bias and neglect of the south Indian cinema and artistes.

The Directorate of the Film Festival on Wednesday refuted his charges, pointing out that IFFI has a retrospective dedicated to G Aravindan, where five classic films by the eminent filmmaker from Kerala were being screened. The Indian panorama for this year includes five Malyalam films out of the total 20.

Besides, it said, Mr Chandran himself was invited to be present at the screening of his film 'Aadum Kothu' on November 27.

Other prominent film personalities from Kerala invited at IFFI include M P Sukumaran Nair, Sasi Paravoor, Prakash, Raju Mathew, Nedumudi Venu, K S Sethumadhavan and Madhu Kaithapram, it said.

''Therefore, Mr Chandran's comments were subjective and highly biased,'' the authorities said.

''Furthermore it has to be borne in mind that the IFFI is not only dedicated to Malayalam cinema. It is a representative of the Indian and world cinema,'' they added.

Mr Chandran had stated that on the very first day of his arrival, he had to wait for his pass, which could not be issued on time for lack of his photograph.

He had taken it as his insult that his films had featured in the IFFI eight times in the past and the officials were unable to locate his photo.

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