CHENNAI: Sengadal(Dead Sea), the docu-fiction which successfully surfed many rough currents, finds itself in another whirlpool as it misses the screen at Chennai Film festival,where it is exempted by the organisers, even though it was the only Tamil film chosen for Indian Panorama 2011.This home grown film directed by Leena Manimekalai, which earlier survived the scissors of the censor board, depicts the gory tale of the families of Tamil fishermen killed by the Lankan Army in the high seas but is yet to open for audience in Tamil Nadu.Chennai Film Festival which begins on Dec 14 to 22 has exempted Sengadal while all the other Panorama Films are programmed as a special section. The organisers had approached the director of the film for the film screening a few weeks ago and as a follow-up took the producer’s endorsement for screening the film.“This last minute exclusion has raised questions if the festival has censored the film for political reasons,” said Leena Manimekalai.The director,disappointed at the lack of space for her artistic expression in her home state, said, “It is really disappointing that Sengadal is exempted from screening at the Chennai Film Festival. Earlier when we had to fight the censor board, we had an institutionalised channel to fight, now I do not know who to fight here. I feel that, because of this disguised censorship, the real story of the fishermen gunned down by the Lankan Army is not reaching out to the people of the state.”Sengadal started with a bumpy ride: earlier it was shot down by the Regional Censor Board on grounds that it contained ‘political reference in a denigrating way on the functioning of Indian and Sri Lankan governments. Thanks to the feisty fight put up by its director, the film after a seven-month legal tussle was cleared with A-certificate without any cuts by the CBFC. After that it went on to become the only Tamil film chosen for Indian Panorama 2011 by the government. It was later presented at IFFI, Goa (Nov 23 to Dec 3), and will be traveling to all prestigious film festivals across the world as Indian Panorama Package.The film has participated in the competition sections of 32nd Durban International Film Festival and 35th World Montreal Film festival and 13th International Mumbai Film Festival, MAMI. And it has won NAWFF Award at Tokyo for the Best Asian Film.As the Chennai Film Festival opens this Wednesday, the Sengadal team keeps its fingers crossed.
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