Following the recent controversy over the screening of a Pakistani film, Jago Hua Savera, at the upcoming 18th Mumbai Film Festival, the organisers made an official announcement on Thursday that they would be dropping the film from the festival’s schedule.
“Given the current situation, the Jio MAMI 18th Mumbai Film Festival with Star has decided not to programme Jago Hua Savera as part of the ‘Restored Classics’ section,” read the press release shared by the organisers.
The announcement came a day after it was reported that Prithvi Maske, the president of Sangharsh Foundation, an NGO in Mumbai, had filed a complaint at the Amboli police station about the screening of the film.
The 1959 black-and-white art-house drama, which was directed by A.J. Kardar, was shot in Dhaka. The story, which tells the tale of life in a small fishing village where everyone dreams of owning their own boat, was adapted from Bengali author Manik Bandhopadhyay’s short story, while the screenplay was written by celebrated Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
Apart from being the entry from Pakistan for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 32nd Academy Awards in 1960, the film also won the Golden Medal at the 1st Moscow International Film Festival.
Speaking on the decision, film historian S.M.M. Ausaja said, “Unfortunately, any organising agency has to give in to the popular sentiments. In times when society is so polarised, they had to succumb to such demands in order to gain the government’s support.”
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, incidentally, had warned Pakistani artistes to leave India and said the party would not allow their movies to be released here.
