Mani Ratnam has decided not to show Raavan at International Film Academy (IIFA) awards.
The International Film Academy (IIFA) awards just can’t stop running into controversies. After the objection from Tamils both in India and Sri Lanka regarding selecting the Colombo as the venue for the event, there is a new controversy surrounding it as the noted film maker from South, Mani Ratnam, has refused to screen his new film Raavan at the award functions to be held between June 3-5 this year.
The director, who is making the film both in Hindi and Tamil says that he cannot screen the film at IIFA because it is still incomplete and need finishing touches.
When asked, Ratnam said, "We are not going as the film is not ready yet. We are still working on the background score, which means the film will be ready only in June. We are not going and neither is the film."
The director’s decision not to screen the film at IIFA is somewhat surprising because the lead pair of the film Aishwarya and Abhishek belong to the family of Amitabh Bachchan and it was hoped that they will utilize their presence at IIFA to promote Raavana. Mani differed from this idea though and felt that as individuals both Aishwarya and Abhishek may be free to go anywhere including IIFA but they will not be present at the event as the representative of Raavan.
Mani Ratnam also wants to stay away from Colombo because some of his films have taken a very critical view of the conflict in Sri Lanka and the two basic communities in the country may not be very happy having him at the event.
Whether it is due to incompletion or Mani’s personal reasons, it is now clear that after the director’s decision, Raavan is not going to be shown at IIFA.
