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Husain’s film screened at festival

PANAJI: Amidst all the gloom, there was a little but hard-fought victory for secular forces as the authorities finally screened on Thursday M.F. Husain’s 40-year-old documentary, Through the eyes of a painter.

This follows a report in The Hindu that the film’s screening had been called off under pressure from activists of the Hindu Janjagruti Samiti.

However, with film-makers such as Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shyam Benegal and Jahnu Barua expressing outrage at this ‘submission to fringe elements,’ the authorities decided to show Husain’s film on Rajasthan.

According to the Directorate of Film Festivals, the screening was merely “deferred” to avoid any law and order problem.

“The film has been cleared by the censors. We have no problems with either the film or Husain,” S.M. Khan, director, DFF, said.

The film was originally scheduled to be screened on Tuesday and the show had to be called off as some local Hindu groups objected to it.

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