Shashi Tharoor Asks Centre To Lift Ban On 19 Films At Kerala Film Festival, 4 Cleared For Screening

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday termed as "most unfortunate" the controversy over the Union government's refusal to grant clearance to 19 films scheduled for screening at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), warning that the episode could embarrass India before the global film community.

According to PTI, 4 out of 19 films awaiting clearance have now been granted official censor exemption. These movies include Beef, Eagles of The Republic, Heart of The Wolf and Once Upon A Time In Gaza, the sources said. The remaining 15 films in the banned list include Sergei Eisenstein's 100-year-old classic Battleship Potemkin and several films related to the Palestine conflict.

Sergei Eisenstein's Soviet-era classic Battleship Potemkin, the latter has been touted as a defining piece of work in modern cinema.

Tharoor sharply criticised the reasoning behind the denial, calling it reflective of an "extraordinary degree of cinematic illiteracy" within the bureaucracy. He pointed out that even internationally acclaimed classics had been denied permission, citing Battleship Potemkin - the 1928 Soviet-era film on the Russian Revolution - as a striking example.

It is most unfortunate that an unseemly controversy has arisen over the central government's denial of clearance to 19 films which were scheduled to be screened at the International Film Festival of Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram.

The original list was much longer, but several…

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 16, 2025

The film, Tharoor noted, has been viewed by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, including in India, over nearly a century, making the denial "laughable".

The Thiruvananthapuram MP also took exception to the refusal to clear certain Palestinian films, arguing that such decisions appeared to stem from bureaucratic over-cautiousness rather than any balanced cultural or artistic assessment.

IFFK, a flagship cultural event of Kerala now in its 30th year, is regarded as the country's most popular film festival after the International Film Festival of India (IFFI).

In a strongly worded statement, Tharoor said the original list of films denied clearance was far longer, but several titles were subsequently approved following his intervention with Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

World cinema, he said, demands a breadth of vision and intellectual openness that should transcend political anxieties, especially at an internationally recognised festival like IFFK. Emphasising Kerala's long-standing reputation as a hub of serious cinema appreciation, Tharoor warned that continued delays or refusals could damage the festival's credibility.

He said the protests and cancellations sparked by the issue had already drawn unwelcome attention, detracting from the artistic focus of the event.

Tharoor said he had urged both Minister Vaishnaw and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to grant expeditious clearance to the remaining films, calling upon the Centre to act swiftly to prevent "further embarrassment" in the eyes of Kerala's cinema lovers and the international film fraternity.

The 30th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) is being held from December 12 to 19.