FORBIDDEN CINEMA: Sexy Durga

The most renowned Indian film of recent years. It starts like a love story: in Kerala, in the south of India, under the cover of night, Durga, a Hindi migrant from the north and a Muslim, Kabeer, run to the nearest railway station. They want to go as far away as possible to start a new life together. But when they get in a van which they stopped in the street, they both start to feel more and more insecure – the atmosphere of fear grows, intensified in the audience by media coverage about brutal rapes of women performed in vans. A love story turns into a thriller. Sexy Durga won last year’s International Film Festival in Rotterdam and many other events all over the world – from Armenia to Mexico. In his home country of India, Sanal Kumar Sasidharan - a film director, poet and artist also encountered numerous problems. The title itself aroused controversy (Durga is not only the name of the female protagonist, but also of a Hindu goddess) and had to be changed to S Durga. Made in the Malayalam language, the film was also banned for its bold juxtaposition of an inter-religious love story with documentary shots of the Garudan Thookkam ritual.

Movie in Malajalam, Hindi with Polish and English subtitles.