IFFI jury rejects award-winning film for Hindutva slant

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">new delhi: <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">infiltrators</span> may have won a national award this year for best investigative film but it hasn''t prevented the non-feature film jury for the international film festival of india (iffi) from rejecting it. the films division documentary on bangladeshi ''infiltrators'' was directed and produced by urmi chakraborty, a kolkata-based filmmaker, who is shooting a feature film for nfdc right now.filmmaker pankaj butalia, who was on the jury, is shocked that the film even won a national award. "i must have seen a million films so far, but this is by far the most blatant propaganda almost nazi-like that i have ever seen," says butalia, wondering "how the censor board passed it". "it toes the absolute bjp, rss and shiv sena line in saying that bangladeshi muslims are infiltrating into india everyday and their numbers are growing in lakhs and soon they will aid in turning india into a muslim majority country. the filmmaker has used terms like muslim proliferation and pan-islamic agenda," says an agitated butalia. chakraborty was unavailable for comment. film critic b b nagpal who was also a member of the jury says: "the film, though well researched and shot in different parts of the country was rejected for the indian panorama section at iffi because it is too much of propaganda and hence cannot be showcased in international festivals. just as a couple of years ago, gulzar''s maachis was rejected because the indian government could not have been shown to have sympathy for militants." </div> </div>