The National Film Awards (NFA) is courting controversy once again.
This year, the issue began with a petition in the Mumbai High Court regarding entries for non-fiction films.
Filmmakers Gaurav Ashwin Jani, Anand Patwardhan and Simantini Dhuru filed a writ petition naming the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Government of India against the conditions for entering video and digital films for the 53rd National Film Awards.
The high court passed a judgment in favour of the petitioners on July 28. As per the ruling, uncensored films have to be permitted as entries for the awards as a closed-door jury would only view them.
While the results of the awards have been submitted to the I&B Ministry, their official announcement it set for a delay. The reason: the government is contemplating moving the Supreme Court against the high court order allowing screening of uncensored documentaries for NFA.
According to government sources, the I&B Ministry is consulting the Law Ministry to seek legal recourse against the order. “We expect to decide on the issue by end of this week,” a senior ministry official said.