Shillong, July 29: The screening of Sanjay Kak’s Red Ant Dream in an upcoming film festival in the city has been cancelled after Meghalaya police reportedly wanted to vet the film prior to its viewing.

From August 1-3, St Anthony’s College here will host Indie8 — a film festival where documentaries, mostly from the Northeast, will be screened.

However, the organisers of the festival were asked by the East Khasi Hills district police to give them a copy of Red Ant Dream for “vetting” before it was released for screening for students of the college.

Red Ant Dream is a film by Sanjay Kak and is co-written by Tarun Bhartiya, a resident of the city.

It is the third in a cycle of films that question the working of Indian democracy. It follows Words on Water which is based on the struggle against large dams in the Narmada valley and Jashn-e-Azadi which relates to the idea of freedom for Kashmir.

In a letter written to Bhartiya on July 26, East Khasi Hills superintendent of police M. Kharkrang stated that police are “not averse” to the film being screened at the festival. “However, as information has been received from certain quarters that Red Ant Dream has certain radical views, it was felt that a copy should be provided to enable us verify the matter,” Kharkrang stated in the letter.

Kharkrang said as the audience will be students whose minds are “impressionable”, it was felt appropriate that the film should be “screened by us before viewership for the targeted audience”.

“Shillong had witnessed a spate of militancy in the past where many a life were lost. This was fuelled and fomented by extremist and jingoistic ideas. Regressing back by allowing such ideas to take root would be contrary to the democratic fabric of the country, for which we, as law enforcement agencies, are enjoined and preserved,”Kharkrang said.

On Bhartiya’s contention that the film was exhibited in other parts of the country, Kharkrang reacted by stating: “It may be clarified that different parts of the country have different problems/issues and that our state is rooted in militancy problem. Perhaps the film may have certain connotations which we would like to verify.”

On Saturday, principal of the college Br Albert Dkhar wrote to Bhartiya informing him that the film cannot be screened at the festival and that a copy of the film would not be sent to the police for vetting.

Reacting to the developments, Bhartiya, in a statement, alleged that the “arbitrary misuse of power” on the part of the police contradicts even the guidelines of the Union ministry of information and broadcasting which states that documentary film screenings that are undertaken during film festivals are exempted even from censor certification.

“The filmmakers would have no objections if it was just the festival preview committee which wanted to preview the film again because films for the festivals can and should only be selected by those who understand and appreciate films. But the police department should have no role to play in that preview because their action goes against all traditions of film culture in our country, and their need to ‘vet’ the film here is an arbitrary action that is inconsistent with the history of film screenings in the country,” the co-writer of Red Ant Dream further stated.

The film preview committee, Bhartiya said, by selecting and advertising the film for the festival had in fact already found it suitable for screening.

In the past two months, he said the film has already been screened in educational institutions like DAV College, Amritsar, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Mount Carmel College, Bangalore and National Law School, Bangalore.

Bhartiya also said that public screenings have taken place in Kashmir, and Red Ant Dream has also been screened by government institutions like FDzone of Films Division in Mumbai, National Film Archives of India, Pune and others without any police “oversight”.

Currently the film is being screened at educational institutions in Hyderabad, including at NALSAR, University of Hyderabad, Osmania University, the English and Foreign Languages University, and nowhere the police had sought to vet the film, he stated.

“The police request to ‘vet’ the content of Red Ant Dream is a sad commentary for Shillong and indeed for Meghalaya if educational and cultural activities and indeed writing, including journalism, require constant police scrutiny. To give in to this abuse of power will create a bad precedence and will compromise the hard-won democratic rights of academic and creative autonomy and freedom which we all cherish and defend,” Bhartiya added.

Last week Bhartiya had informed the local media that the film would be screened on August 3 at 4.30pm at St Anthony’s College Auditorium, Shillong.