Kolkata: Director-producer Ketan Mehta has cancelled the commercial screenings of Nandana Sen-Randeep Hooda starrer Rang Rasiya at the ongoing Kolkata Film Festival (KFF) as the controversial movie has not been released theatrically yet.
"How can we allow commercial screenings even before the film is released? Its almost equivalent to releasing the film as hundreds of people will go and buy a ticket to watch it. But the producers will not earn any money from that," a source close to Mehta told PTI from Mumbai.
The state-sponsored festival organisers had earlier declared three screenings of the film, two of which were commercial shows at private cinema halls. However, the screening at state government auditorium Nandan scheduled for Tuesday will be held as per schedule, said Haranath Chakraborty, a member of the KFF executive committee.
But entry there is restricted only to the media, delegates and guests. The producers said they did not have any issues with such a screening reserved for select audience.
Had the screenings which were supposed to be held today and been held according to plan, hundreds of people would have watched Rang Rasiya, by now before its release. The news, however, has left film buffs disappointed. "I
have been dying to watch this much-hyped film, but now they are saying the show is cancelled. Why is it that only delegates and invitees can watch the film and not the common people?," complained 25-year-old Tamal Goswami.
A biopic on 19th century painter Raja Ravi Varma, Rang Rasiya has courted controversy for taking artistic freedom in depicting nudity. Ready since 2008, the film is yet to release in cinema halls following a dispute between Mehta and the distributors. The film has earlier won applause at film festivals in Cannes, London, New York and Florence.
It got a standing ovation at the Chicago Film Festival last month and got voted as the Best Film this summer in the London Film Festival. Nandana, who plays muse to the painter played by Randeep, said, "Although I've travelled all over the world with this film, I've never been as excited about any screening as this
one in Kolkata".Besides Thiruvananthapuram, Kolkata will be the second Indian city to have a screening of the film.
Comments
0 comment