Mrinal Sen and Soumitra Chatterjee kept out of KIFF panel

Organisers of the 2013 edition of the Kolkata International Film Festival have reportedly dropped the names of Mrinal Sen and Soumitra Chatterjee from the general body of the film festival committee. Not only that, if KIFF sources have to be believed the names of Tarun Majumdar and Buddhadeb Dasgupta have also been dropped and new members included. It is said that these four personalities were against the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee taking over as the head of the cultural department. Said Mrinal Sen, “It is unimaginable for me to think of her as the head of the cultural department. So I had quit on the first day after I was told that Mamata Banerjee is in charge. There is no question of me working with her.” Meanwhile, in his resolve to not get into any kind of controversy, Chatterjee said, "I never attended a single meeting nor was I asked to attend one. So I hardly know what they do. I don't even know when this new committee was constituted," he averred. It may be remembered that way back in 2011, both Sen and Chatterjee had skipped the film festival. Last year, Chatterjee opposed the idea of shifting the venue of the festival from the cultural complex Nandan to Netaji Indoor Stadium when he said that film festivals should not be treated like a circus.