Court notice to government over Assamese film

New Delhi, April 18 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Wednesday issued notice to the government and chairperson of the 59th National Film Awards on a plea seeking quashing the decision of the jury for not accepting the nomination of an Assamese film for the awards.

The court issued notice to the information and broadcasting ministry and Rohini Hattangadi, chairperson and jury (feature films), Hiren Bora, jury of the 59th National Film Awards, and the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw sought from all the respondents the reason for not treating the film as an Assamese film.

Enajori.com, a society that promotes cultural heritage of Assam, filed the petition against the decision of the jury for rejecting "Ekhon Nedekha Nodir Xipare" to be an Assamese film.

The petitioner said that inspite of the certification received from the CBFC to be an Assamese movie, the jury of the awards deprived the movie and the Assamese film industry a nominee for the national awards.

The bench also directed the National Film Development Corp (NFDC) and the producer of the film to implead as a party in the case.

Advocate Debojit Borkakati appearing for the petitioner said that according to the jury the film cannot be accepted as an Assamese movie as a substantial portion of the dialogues were in Hindi and English.

"Ironically, the best film announced "I am" is shot in places like Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore and Jammu and Kashmir and substantial portion of the dialogues is in Bengali, Marathi, Kannadiga, Hindi and English," he said.