Censor Board bans Tamil film

Six months are over since completion.

But the banned Tamil film Kaatrukkenna Veli is still awaiting certification by the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal.

According to a newspaper report, director Pugazenthi Thangaraj has been in Delhi for over a month now seeking the approval of the appellate court after the Madras regional censor board failed to certify the film.

The Censor Board has refused certification as it said that the film glorifies the guerilla organisation, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and shows the ''Army of a friendly neighbouring country,'' in a bad light.

Kaatrukkenna Veli (or Wind cannot be fenced) is a story about a woman militant who crosses The Palk Strait with the help of her comrades after she is injured during an army attack.

The story revolves around the sublime love that develops between the militant woman and the Indian doctor threatened at gun point by the militants to treat her.

The censor board of film certification cited that ''The story of the film seems to revolve around a banned organisation such as LTTE. The film glorifies an organisation like the LTTE and brand the Sri Lankan soldiers as heartless murderers and rapists. Suicide by swallowing cyanide is the characteristic behaviour of LTTE as is seen from Yogi's (a character in the film) suicide when captured by the police.''

Mr Pugazedhi decided to fight the decision and undertook fast unto death in Madras. The six-day fast ended at the intervention of renowed Tamil filmmaker and Rajya Sabha (Upper House) member of the parliament Dasari Naryana Rao who wrote a letter to Information and Broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj against the censor board decision.

He then moved to New Delhi and filed a case in the film tribunal. The tribunal, after hearing the arguments, has reserved its orders, the paper said.

Leading Tamil actresses Khushboo and Sujitha star in the film. It is produced by T Vellain, president of the Tamil Nadu Merchant Federation.

UNI