India Samvad, 30 October 2015
Mumbai: The ministry of information and broadcasting has denied screening a 21-minute documentary film that deals with “beef-eating practices in Mumbai” at a film festival in Mumbai.
The documentary entitled, Caste on the Menu Card, is the only film to be denied exemption from certification out of 35 entries, according to the Centre for Civil Society, which is the organiser of the festival.
The film was to be screened at the 12th Jeevika Asia Livelihood Documentary Festival 2015.
“In all, 35 documentary films, including 19 competitive documentaries and 16 non-competitive documentaries, were recommended for screening by our jury members. On October 4, we sent the list of these 35 documentaries to I&B Ministry’s Joint Secretary (Films) K Sanjay Murthy seeking exemption from provisions relating to certification of films for these documentaries,” said the festival director, Manoj Mathew.
According to the reports, I&B ministry has refused to screen due to “the current political situation over the beef ban issue." Although, an official from the I&B ministry said that this documentary was not given exemption because they were not provided with adequate information about the film by the festival organisers.”
The film was made by students of the School of Media and Cultural Studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences- said the government's decision has “shocked and upset” them.
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