IFFI picks film 'Priyamanasam' rejected by Kerala

NEW DELHI: Priyamanasam, a Sanskrit movie recently rejected for the International Film Festival of Kerala for allegedly promoting Hindutva, will be exhibited as the inaugural film in the Indian panorama section of the International Film Festival of India beginning in Goa on November 20.

Film director Vinod Mankara said he was thrilled that the Union government was honouring his film. "It is an honour to Sanskrit. In the last many years, Sanskrit was considered dead. It is an inherent part of our culture.

How could we avoid it all these years? Now there is finally a revival happening," he told ET.

The Kerala State Chalachitra Academy rejected Mankara's film for the IFFK, held every year, on behalf of the Kerala government's department of cultural affairs. IFFK is scheduled for December 4-11, this year. 'Priyamanasam' revolves around the life of poet Unnayi Warrier, who wrote the Nalacharitham Aattakkatha (Kathakali play) at the palace of the king of Travancore in the 17th century.

"Allegations that my film promotes Hindutva agenda are not right. The story revolves around ancient Travancore and deals with the life of a poet-scholar who worked as a temple staff. It is a romantic story. It would be quite impossible to tell the story without using images of temples and religious rituals. People should see it as pure art," he said. Mankara's film is the third Sanskrit film , after Adi Shanakaracharya in 1983 and Bhagavad Gita in 1993.