‘Bhonsle gave a wrong declaration to KIFF’

A screenshot of the submission form of Bhonsle to KIFF
The controversy over Devashish Makhija ’s Bhonsle has created quite a stir in the film corridors. While the director has taken to the social media to express his anguish over the non-inclusion of his film in the competitive section, the organisers of the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) are upset with what they call “uninformed” behavior on his part.
The row was over the non-inclusion of Bhonsle in the segment titled Competition On Indian Language’s Films. Said a KIFF organiser, “As a policy for the competitive segment, we only include films that have their Indian premiers. We expect a director, who is submitting his or her film to the competitive section, to know the rules of KIFF and act accordingly. There are films that are screened elsewhere. We do not include them in the competitive segment. Goutam Ghose’s Raahgir, which was screened at MAMI, will not be competing in KIFF. It will be screened under the Maestro segment of the non-competitive section. Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s Urojahaj will be screened in the same section.”

The problem with Bhonsle is that the form mentioned that was submitted to KIFF from the maker’s side by Rajat Goswami clearly mentioned that it was for the Competition on Indian Language Films. In the section meant to declare the premiere status, it clearly mentioned ‘world premiere’. “It is unfortunate that the director is crying foul when the submission entry has given a wrong information. Sometimes, directors do mention world premiere in the beginning and subsequently, it so happens that a film already gets screened elsewhere. It is for the director to know the rules and inform us in advance to avoid any errors. That’s professionalism. While cross-checking, we noticed that Bhonsle had already been screened elsewhere. That’s when we obviously had to remove it from the competitive section. Otherwise, it would be breaking the KIFF rules. Had the director still wanted us to screen his film in any other segment, he had to inform us. Unfortunately, he chose to write on social media. Interestingly, he carefully ignored the fact that his submission form had a wrong declaration.”