Pashi’ filmmaker shocked after IIT Bombay cancels screening over ‘explicit content’

Filmmaker Siddharth Chauhan was up for a shock when he got to know that IIT Bombay has canceled the screening of his film Pashi. Those handling the event told Siddharth that they couldn’t screen his film due to ‘explicit content’. This has left the filmmaker in a state of whammy.

Siddharth had taken to social media (Facebook) to express his anger. He was particularly upset since the movie’s screening was canceled last-minute, especially citing ‘explicit content’, which according to him, does not exist in the film. Pashiwas supposed to be screened on Saturday and Sunday.

“They didn’t even bother to tell me that they had decided against screening my film. Initially, they kept calling me with the request to screen my film. I also signed a screening agreement with them last month. After that, I did not hear from them. The day before the festival was to start I asked them which of the two days my film would be screened and that’s when they told me they would not be screening it,” Chauhan told Mumbai Mirror.

“There is no frontal nudity in the film. There’s just one dream sequence in which a naked man is walking from a distance and one lovemaking scene with the only first half of the bodies are in the nude. There is nothing objectionable in it. After I expressed my displeasure to them they said the festival was for all and children would be part of it. But that’s what they said later,” he added.

Siddharth Chauhan is an independent filmmaker who is based in Shimla. His movie, which tells the story of the desires and fantasies of a teenage boy in Himachal Pradesh, was screened at Delhi University previously