Shot At Sight

The Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) in Delhi, a wing of the Union I&B ministry which organises international and other film festivals, (including Whose Land...) sent synopses of all the Panorama films to Nandan, in advance of the Calcutta festival.

Even from a cursory reading of the synopsis, it's pretty clear that Whose Land... is far from being a paean for the state government's actions in Singur. However, it appears that this, too, went unnoticed by the cultural commissars of the Left Front.

It was only after the screening on March 26 that hell broke loose. Nandan took the extraordinary step of "suspending" the rest of the festival. And its ceo Nilanjan Chatterjee followed up that very afternoon with an officious fax demanding explanations from a startled DFF. His phraseology ("I am directed", etc) suggested that he was writing at the behest of his political bosses.

In his fax, Nilanjan took the DFF to task for "the content of a film (that) directly violates the ethical principles of centre-state relationship". "I am directed to state that it is highly objectionable to include such a controversial film in the Indian Panorama package," he stated. "As such," he continued, "I am directed to request you to kindly state the reason for the inclusion of such a film in the said package". And then came the clincher: "I am further directed to inform you that all the screenings earmarked on 27 March, 2008, will remain suspended till a satisfactory reply is received from your office."

By the time the DFF replied with a statement narrating the facts of the case, the threat had been executed. Calcutta audiences were deprived of watching even Panorama films that did not offend the Left Front government—as punishment for watching one that did.