Documentary on 2020-21 farmers’ protest dropped from Bengaluru film fest

In 2017, the I&B ministry had banned the exhibition of three documentaries — In the Shade of Fallen Chinar; March, March, March and Unbearable Being of Lightness — at the 10th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK). Kerala HC heard the writ petition filed by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, the organiser of the festival.

While Unbearable Being of Lightness talks about the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad, March, March March is about the protests at Jawaharlal Nehru University and In the Shade of Fallen Chinar is a short documentary offering a glimpse into the lives of a group of young Kashmiri artists.

Ramachandra told PTI that of the three films, the court did not take a stand on the one on Kashmiri students. “But the other two films were allowed to be screened,” he recalled.

Incidentally, in 2019 too, Kerala State Chalachitra Academy filed a writ petition against the banning of Anand Patwardhan’s Vivek/Reason by the I&B ministry, again at IDSFFK, stating that screening the film could cause law and order problems. But Kerala HC held that the Centre’s claim could not be upheld and that the screening was permissible according to the guidelines framed by the ministry.

Haravoo also said a few years ago, when the Central government issued a rule that documentaries submitted for National Awards must be certified, several filmmakers, including Patwardhan, protested and finally stopped submitting for the awards.