Kolkata Festival Drops Malayalam Documentary Over Pending I&B Clearance

The screening of Malayalam documentary filmmaker Ramdas Kadavallur's Sathyapullu (Magical Grass) at the 5th World Film Festival in Kolkata was called off after clearance from the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry failed to arrive in time. The film was scheduled to be shown on September 9 at the festival, which is organised by the Film Society Federation of India.

Kadavallur said the development was deeply troubling, noting that a work which examines both history and the present with close, meticulous attention had been denied a public showing.

Sathyapullu has previously been screened at the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK) and won an award at the Signs film festival. The documentary centres on Rashida Nazriya, a young woman navigating depression, her romantic life and her observations of the world around her. It draws on notes she published as a writer, on the poems 'ID Card' and 'Mehboob Express' by poet Anwar Ali, and on the metaphor of the train, which stands for the refugee experience and forced migration.

Responding to the cancellation, Kadavallur said the film does not stir hatred or animosity but instead tries to look at the world and society in their entirety, without manipulating or distorting any subject. He acknowledged that the work, like his earlier films, carries a political dimension, which he described as one rooted in a humanistic stance, democratic convictions and concern for minority communities. If that is what led to the screening being dropped, he said, it can only be seen as an act of political intolerance and an encroachment on democratic, constitutional and civil rights.

The filmmaker also said film societies were once free of restrictions on what could be screened, but that the reach of censorship has now extended to them as well.

Premendra Mazumder, a film critic and curator who coordinates the World Film Festival, offered a different account, saying the screening had not been cancelled but that approval from the I&B Ministry was still pending. He explained that screenings at Nandan, the festival venue, depend entirely on the ministry's permission. Since Sathyapullu was selected in the competition category, the jury had already viewed it, but a public screening required clearance. Such permissions, he added, used to arrive early but are now delayed, sometimes coming only after a festival has ended.