The organisers of the 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) apologised on Saturday for incorrectly mentioning the plot of auteur Satyajit Ray’s classic Bengali film Sonar Kella on their website.
The website of the film festival had credited Arbaaz Khan, Malaika Arora, and Dhillin Mehta as the producers of Ray’s film and had mentioned the plot of actor Salman Khan’s 2010 film Dabangg as the story of Sonar Kella.
Directed and written by Ray, Sonar Kella starred late veteran Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee as private detective Prodosh Chandra Mitter, popularly known as Feluda. The film also starred Santosh Dutta, Siddartha Chatterjee, Kusal Chakravarty, Sailen Mukherjee, and Ajoy Banerjee.
While IFFI correctly mentioned the year of the film’s release, language, run time and credited Ray as the film’s director, the synopsis of the film read, “Chulbul Pandey is a jovial, fearless but corrupt cop who has a troubled relationship with his younger half-brother Makkhi and stepfather. His life takes a turn when certain events shake his conscience, forcing him to take on a corrupts local politician.”
Many people pointed out the error on social media, after which IFFI apologised and corrected the film’s information. The website now correctly mentions the West Bengal government as the producer of Ray’s film along with the right synopsis of the film.
We would like to apologise for the incorrect information of the film “Sonar Kella” mentioned in the IFFI Film Guide. It was inadvertent and the same has been duly rectified. Inconvenience caused is deeply regretted.
— International Film Festival of India (@IFFIGoa) January 16, 2021
According to the festival’s updated description, the film follows Mukul Dhar who is haunted by his past life memories and takes on a trip to a golden fort in Rajasthan where he is believed to have lived in his past life, thinking it to be a cure. The cinematographer of the film was Soumendu Roy and edited by Dulal Dutta. Other films by Ray that are part of the festival include Ghare Baire (1984), Charulata (1964), Pather Panchali (1955), and Shatranj Ke Khilari (1977).
Founded in 1952, IFFI is an annual film festival that is currently being held in Goa. Aimed at providing a platform to showcase world cinema, the festival also is pointed towards contributing to appreciate and understand films hailing from different cultures and social backgrounds. The festival is conducted jointly by the Directorate of Film Festivals (under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting) and the Goa government.
The ongoing film festival will conclude on January 24.
