IFFI 2017: Story-telling, listening should be familial experience, says Shah Rukh Khan

Amid the raging Padmavati controversy as well as the row over exclusion of two films from a section of the 48th International Film Festival of India, actor Shah Rukh Khan, through a mixture of symbolism and subtlety, spoke of cinema as a balm of love for dissent and a catalyst for unity, at the inauguration of the movie jamboree in Panaji on Monday, 20 November.

Khan spoke in the presence of union minister for information and broadcasting Smriti Irani at the inaugural ceremony of the 48th International Film Festival of India, which kicked off near Panaji.

"There is a word in Sanskrit 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam'. It means bringing the world together like a family. I believe no matter what your language is, no matter what country your story comes from, and no matter what your ideology is, story-telling and listening should be a familial experience which binds us together. It makes relationships stronger, even in the face of dissent and discussion as it usually happens in a family, instead of tearing us apart," he said.

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"I truly believe that films are made with the collaboration of hundreds of people coming together, working relentlessly for an idea they believe in and they love and they want share it with the world. This idea becomes the film which we all watch, and sometimes we feel very happy watching it," said the actor, underlining the significance of love in the process of filmmaking.

"Sometimes, we dance along with the film. At other times, we get angry, disturbed or agitated. That exactly is the magic of storytelling, a magic which has the power to touch all our senses and in doing so, actually binding us together. The essence of storytelling is incomplete, if there is no story listener. And I believe that storytellers and story listeners are, or at least should be, like a family," he said.

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Khan's subtle take on dissent came in wake of none-too-subtle comments by Padmavati actor Shahid Kapoor, who while speaking to the media on the sidelines of the event, came out strongly against protests groups lobbying to get the film banned.

"It will be a precedent which I am not proud of if the film finds it difficult to release. I believe that the film will release. I believe that this process is difficult and like I said, I went through a similar process with Udta Punjab (2016)," Kapoor said when asked to comment on the Padmavati controversy.

"Any kind of conversation which is violent in nature is not very nice, is not in good taste and it is absolutely uncalled for an unfortunate," he added.

This year, IFFI has been at the centre of a controversy as two movies — Sanal Kumar Sasidharan's S Durga and Ravi Jadhav's Nude — were excluded from a jury-suggested list for the Indian Panorama section, when it was cleared by the ministry of information and broadcasting.

The festival's inauguration also saw the presence of Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, actress Sridevi and head of the competition's international jury Muzaffar Ali, among others.

IFFI will screen 10 world premieres, 10 Asian and international premieres and over 64 Indian premieres as part of the official programme and opened with noted Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi's India-set movie Beyond the Clouds.