Celina Jaitly distances herself from Kashish Queer Film Festival
Merely days ago, the Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival announced that its head of marketing, Pallav Patankar had allegedly resigned from the post. Now, Celina Jaitly, the film festival's long-time voluntary brand ambassador, has decided to distance herself from the organization. Meanwhile, the 11th Kashish Film Festival will be held virtually this month. So, what went wrong?
In February, Kris Chudawala, a 22-year-old Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) student and some others were charged with sedition, after they raised slogans in support of Sharjeel Imam. Incidentally, Imam was himself slapped with sedition for delivering an inflammatory speech demanding to cut off Northeast from India. While some members of the queer community supported Chudawala, Pallav criticized the sloganeering.
Imam, a PhD student at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is accused of inciting violence and promoting enmity between classes. He was arrested from Bihar's Jehanabad in January. He was charged with sedition in April for abetting the Jamia riots in December last year.
In the aftermath of the February incident, the members of the queer community largely came out in Chudawala's support. Even the festival's director Sridhar Rangayan said in a statement that they did not approve of the "crossfire between various factions of the community." However, Pallav claimed he was systematically attacked within the organization and he had to face "vicious trolling."
Cut to July, Pallav is no more in the scene. Kashish Film Festival issued a statement, claiming that Pallav "respectfully" decided to step down as the Director of Marketing, and they accepted the resignation "to keep the festival going on without any encumbrance." However, in a personal statement, he clarified that he did not resign but was asked to step down.
In his statement, Pallav said he was sad that he had to write the letter, "as it attacks an institution that I have contribute in building. However, silence and restraint should not be mis-construed as weakness and fear."
Separately, now Celina has also issued a statement, revealing that she has decided to step away from the festival with immediate effect. Citing her family's relations with the Indian Army, the actor said that she could not be a part of something which garnered allegations that harmed the country's integrity. In a tweet, Pallav lauded her decision.
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
— Celina Jaitly (@CelinaJaitly) July 9, 2020
Cjh pic.twitter.com/De47l6ekwZ
Quoting Celina's statement, Pallav wrote, "Thank you (for) being with the community Celina! I respect your decision. In life, we cannot be sitting on fences, we need to take tough calls and stand up for our beliefs (sic)."
However, not everyone took Celina's move in good spirit. After her statement, many came forward to criticize Celina, noting that the sloganeering incident took place in February, but she didn't say anything about it then. "Too little too late @CelinaJaitly , if what I hear is correct, you accelerated the witch-hunt against @Pallav01 because he stood up for his country," a user tweeted.
The 11th Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival will be held online from July 22 to 30. The festival organizers announced that they would run 157 films from more than 40 countries in this edition of the festival.
