BJP planning its own parallel festival in Kolkata

Kolkata, Sep 6 (IANS) Amid the ban on screening of Vivek Agnihotri directed “The Bengal Files” in West Bengal, which was also witnessed by some other films in the past, because of the "negative approach" of the Mamata Banerjee-led government, the state unit of BJP is planning to start its parallel film festival in the city when such films will be the main attraction of the function.

A state committee member of the BJP in West Bengal said that the two actor-turned BJP leaders, namely Roopa Ganguly and Rudranil Ghosh, are in charge of the project.

“The main attraction of the festival would surely be those movies which had earlier faced screening problems in the city. However, other acclaimed national and international movies will also be screened at the parallel film festival,” the state committee member said.

He also said that a proposal on this count has already got the nod from the central leadership of the party, who are also quite enthusiastic about this project. The date of the first such event will be announced shortly.

According to Rudranil Ghosh, any national-level director who highlights the dark chapters in the state under the current regime or even in the past faces the ire of the state government, and they face screening problems.

“The people of West Bengal need a window so that they can exercise their rights to watch the movies, which are duly cleared by the censorship authorities concerned. We are trying to open the window for the people, which will be truly a democratic space," Ghosh said.

A section of the political observers feels that this event proposed by the BJP sounds like a counter to the annual and official Kolkata International Film Festival (FIFF), which is organized in the city annually.

Recently, actress and producer of the movie “The Bengal Files”, Pallavi Joshi, who is also the wife of the director Vivek Agnihotri, wrote an open letter to the Indian President Droupadi Murmu, seeking the latter’s intervention to ensure that the said movie can be released in West Bengal. Joshi had earlier written a similar letter to Mamata Banerjee.

This is not the first time that any movie, which was to the disliking of Mamata Banerjee, faced a screening ban in West Bengal. Earlier, Sudipto Sen-directed The Kerala Story too was denied release in theatres despite a court order.

Earlier this week, BJP’s Information Technology Cell chief and the party’s central observer for West Bengal Amit Malviya claimed that in West Bengal under the Trinamool Congress regime under the leadership of the Mamata Banerjee, ban on screening of movies has become a regular feature in case the subject and the plot of the movie do not suit the convenience of the ruling party in the state.

“Mamata Banerjee’s politics of appeasement has gone to absurd levels. It’s like riding a tiger — she neither knows how to get off, nor how to control it, without being devoured,” Malviya said.

--IANS

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