Rituparno`s `Love Story` to have no-show at state-run theatre

Mumbai: Critically acclaimed worldwide, `Just Another Love Story`, a Bengali film dealing with homosexuality, has hit a wall in its home turf with the authorities of the state-run film complex Nandan asking for a preview before screening.Stung by the "cultural policing", the producers of the film, which received the Special Jury Award at this year`s prestigious IFFI in Goa, have decided not to show it in the Nandan film complex.

"The Nandan authorities have asked for a DVD of the film for previewing. This is unacceptable since it has already been cleared by the Censor Board, not to speak of the screening at the state-run IFFI where the film even got the silver Peacock," Tapan Biswas of Cinemawala, producers of the film, said last evening. The director of the film, which stars famed director Rituparno Ghosh in an unconventional role of a gay film-maker dressed up as a woman, Kaushik Ganguly, confirmed that during their talks with the Nandan CEO, a request had indeed been made for a preview to judge if it was "aesthetically made". Expressing surprise over the `demand`, the lead actor Rituparno Ghosh quipped, "How can they decide? Why should there be a preview since there had been no such instances in the past?`` "There should not be any attempt at cultural policing in the field of art," he said. PTI