Goutam Ghosh’s ‘Yatra’ to be released in mid February
Film-maker Gautam Ghose is confident that his magnum opus, ‘Yatra’ starring Rekha and Nana Patekar, will pass the censor hurdle after being held back for three months, and be commercially released by the middle of February.
The Censor Board did not clear the film after its international and national premiers as the Animal Welfare Board had objected to the depiction of a caged bird in a scene, which has Nana and Dipti Naval, essaying the role of husband and wife.
Ghosh said he was unaware of the rule against depiction of birds in cages.
“The scene of a caged bird referred to a situation three decades ago and was a flashback sequence of the writer couple’s life. This was not uncommon or illegal in those days. But we respect the rules,” Ghosh said.
“The issue has been sorted out between my producer and the Animal Welfare Board. A legal solution has been worked out and I understand the film can now be released by the middle of next month,” the director told PTI.
The film’s producer, SPS Arts, exchanged prolonged correspondence with the Board maintaining that deletion of the scene would make the film incomplete, before a solution was finally found.
The film, centering around an acclaimed writer (Nana) and part-fictional, part-real ‘tawaif’ Lajwanti ((Rekha), is basically an inward voyage of the writer, Ghose said.
Yatra, which was world premiered at the prestigious Montreal festival as the only official Indian entry last September, will travel to the Rotterdam Film Festival as a special entry from India shortly.
The film has received rave reviews at the Film Festival of India in Goa.
— PTI
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