'3 Kanya' maker to move court over no-show

Kolkata, Nov 5 (IANS) Director Agnideb Chattopadhyay will file a petition before the Calcutta High Court Thursday seeking compensation after his "anti-government" Bengali movie "3 Kanya" was prevented from being screened at the state-run Star theatre here.

The suspense-thriller was released Friday across West Bengal and shown in private cinema halls. The film is said to bear a resemblance to the real-life Park Street rape case in February, in which an Anglo-Indian woman was raped in a moving car.

The incident had hogged national spotlight after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee initially dubbed the victim's allegation as "fabricated". Her comments had drawn severe criticism from all quarters.

"We had contracted Star to screen our film and accordingly advance bookings of all shows for the next nine days had already been made. We will file a suit Thursday seeking compensation for the loss we suffered on account of those nine days," Chattopadhyay told IANS.

The theatre is run by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, which is now controlled by West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress. The movie was pulled out of the Star theatre Saturday after being branded "anti-government".

Meanwhile, in another development, Ranajit Sur of Association of Protection For Democratic Rights (APDR), a civil rights organisation, is mulling approaching the West Bengal Human Rights Commission with regard to threat calls he received after circulating some SMSes condemning the non-screening of the movie.

"I expressed my shock and dismay over the incident by sending SMSes condemning the incident. Since then I have received several calls threatening me for life," Sur said.

"It's almost a day now since I filed a police complaint, but no arrest has been made so far. If the administration does not act, I will have to move the human rights commission," added Sur.