Amidst complaints over the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy’s (KCSA), which hosts the 27th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), failure to set up a reliable reservation system at the festival, three delegates were arrested Monday, December 12. The arrests followed a protest staged by the delegates for being denied the seats they had reserved. The issue took place prior to the screening of Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam on Monday afternoon. A long queue had formed outside Tagore theatre, where the screening was scheduled,consisting of people waiting since noon to catch the 1.30 pm screening.
Most of the delegates had reserved their seats a day before. However, several of them were denied entry as the theatre was full. Reserved seats had allegedly been allotted to VIP guests who had not reserved their seats. Following this, a group of people started protesting and raising slogans. The Thiruvananthapuram Museum police arrested three among them and registered a case against 30 other identifiable persons. The arrested include Navin (alias Kishore Navin) from Thiruvananthapuram, Niharika a bachelors student from Thrissur, and Muhammed Haneen, a film studies student from Kollam. They have been charged with sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (punishment for rioting), and 149 (unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) of the Indian Penal Code.
“We had booked our tickets prior to the screening, but there was a huge queue. There was another long queue for those who had not reserved seats. Ideally, only if reserved delegates didn't come, did they stand a chance. But what happened was that the organisers gave our seats to VIP guests. We were in a queue for more than one and a half hours. How can they give away reserved seats?” Niharika, one of the students booked in the case, told TNM.
She also alleged that Navin, another youth booked by the police, had been beaten while being taken to the police station. “He was beaten so badly that when he reached the police station, he vomited blood. We were let off on bail in the evening on Monday. Though the authorities [Ranjitha Balakrishnan, Chairperson, KSCA] had promised that no charges would be filed against us and that there would be an extra screening of the movie, both promises were not kept,” she added.
The 27th edition of IFFK has been mired in controversy over a messy reservations system. In most of the theatres, all seats need to be reserved beforehand. However, delegates have complained that the website to book tickets is not efficient. “Most of the time, the application doesn’t work,” Niharika said. Delegates have even alleged that this was the worst edition of IFFK as they have already missed many good movies after they were not able to book tickets. Many have pointed to the poor infrastructure and increased number of delegates as the major reasons for this. “We came from Palakkad just for IFFK. Until now, we have watched only three movies. The only solace is the open screenings in Nishagandhi. We couldn’t watch any of the top-rated movies,” said Athul, one of the delegates.