‘Can’t shoot a kissing scene 2,000 years after Kama Sutra’

CHENNAI: Fearing censorship, filmmakers in the land of ‘Kama Sutra’ are struggling to shoot a kissing scene in Tamil Nadu, said actor Arvind Swamy, while speaking in the presence of several foreign diplomats at the launch of the 15th Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF) on Thursday. The actor indirectly tore into the BJP, in government at the Centre, saying intolerant voices in the country are growing louder and encouraging violence against artists.

Swamy was addressing city film buffs who had turned up to watch the Palme d’Or 2017 winner ‘The Square’ (Sweden), directed by Ruben Östlund.

Swamy

, who has worked with Mani Ratnam multiple times, said even 2,000 years after Vatsyayana wrote ‘Kama Sutra’, film-makers in the country cannot show a couple making love.


“When I was growing up, I saw many wonderful Tamil films. But when I look back, a lot of commercial films depicted violence against women more graphically than they depicted love. We never got to see a loving couple share a kiss or make love,” said Swamy adding that the society has become more closeted.

“Also, the voices of intolerance are growing louder,” the ‘Bombay’ actor said, making a reference to death threats given to artists recently. Addressing “some sections” that have been threatening artists, Swamy said, “Is your belief, whatever it may be, so fragile that you are scared of art destroying it?”

While Swamy lamented incidents of violence against artists, organisers of the festival and film industry representatives rued that the ?50 lakh fund from the state government for the weeklong festival was insufficient. Suhasini Mani Ratnam, one of the organisers, said, “The Karnataka government, which offers a fund of ?3.5 crore for the yearly festival held there, has promised ?10 crore from next year.”

South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce president L Suresh demanded a fund of at least ?2 crore from the Tamil Nadu government.

The guests at the event organised by CIFF director Thangaraj included Taipei economic and cultural centre (Chennai) director general Charles Chao-Cheng Li, Kent May from the US consulate, Australian consul general to South India

Sean Kelly

, Alliance Française (Chennai) director Pierre-Emmanuel Jacob, Goethe - Institut (Max Mueller Bhavan) director Helmut Schippert and German consul general (Chennai) Achim Fabig.

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