'They owe me an explanation,' says Malayalam jury member who was excluded from National Film award ceremony

Film director and 69^th National Film Awards panel jury member Sajin Baabu has alleged he was not invited to the ceremony being held at Vigyan Bhavan in Delhi on Tuesday. In a long Facebook post, the 'Biriyaani' filmmaker said he was not given any explanation for his exclusion from the ceremony, though he suspected he was sidelined after he pointed out a procedural lapse on the part of Kerala State Film Development Corporation (KSFDC) with regard to their submission for the 69th National Film Awards this year.
Speaking to Onmanorama, the filmmaker said he had pointed out that the KSFDC knowingly or unknowingly submitted a film titled 'Nishiddho' produced by them without censoring the movie. “Also, the film did not meet the stipulated duration required for the National Awards. When one of the jury members pointed this out, I along with him went to the projector room and noticed that the film had also not been censored! I was surprised by the turn of events. After the deliberations for the awards, I returned to Kerala and pointed out this procedural lapse by the KSFDC on Facebook. This created a lot of backlash,” he said.

He says he wanted to raise the issue because he did not want this incident to be repeated in the future. “Isn't what they done a huge injustice to a movie made with people's tax money, to this movie, and to all the technicians who worked behind it? When a movie made by a government institution like KSFDC sends it to the National Awards (not the directors sending it to the awards here), why didn't they show the responsibility they should show?,” he asks. He says his decision to question the KSFDC could have cost him the invitation to the ceremony.

“I don't see any other reason why I was denied an invitation to the ceremony. A few minutes after I published a note regarding the procedural lapse in August, I received a call from a prominent person in KSFDC who said he was not happy with my post and that he would talk to National Film Development Corporation about it. A few minutes after that, I received an official email from the NFA cell that said that any disclosure of jury deliberations may lead to a ban on the jury member in the future. In my response email to them I made it clear that at no point have I disclosed any jury deliberations, and that as a filmmaker I consider it my duty to bring to light practices that harm the potential possibilities of fellow filmmakers,” he said.

Sajin expects a response from the NFDC regarding his exclusion from the ceremony. “Everyone else got an invite, except me. I waited for a few days, but realised I was not being invited when I did not receive it even on the day prior to the ceremony. Though I had written to the National Film Awards cell, I did not receive any response,” he alleged. “I spent considerable time and energy for about 20 days deliberating on the movies. Whatever be the reason for my exclusion, as an artist, as a jury member and a citizen I have the right to be informed of it and it is the duty of the 69th NFA cell to inform me the same. Moreover, this complete lack of response and communication is not a professional conduct befitting members of a public office that is dedicated to recognising art and artists,” he said.

The filmmaker said he has filed an official complaint with the Film Employees Federation of Kerala. “I am still deliberating on what else can be done. This is probably the first time such an incident is happening. If the NFA cell is unhappy with me pointing out an issue that took place during the film awards deliberation, they could have barred me or taken an action against me next time. But why would they do this after I spent so much of my energy on this,” he asked. Several people, including screenwriter and lyricist Indu Lakshmi, has come out in support of the filmmaker.