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Battle for Banaras, the controversial documentary on the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary election, which was denied a censor certificate by the censor board, is set to premiere at the 15th Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), December 9-16, 2015.
Produced by Manu Kumaran and directed by Kamal Swaroop, the documentary will be screened in the Cinema of the World section that features films like Big Short (Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling), Concussion (Will Smith) and Spotlight (Rachel McAdams, Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo) among others.
Kumaran, the producer of the documentary, says,
“We wanted the film to premiere at MAMI but the censor board in its wisdom did not deem the film fit to be screened in India. We are very excited that audiences will finally be able to see Kamal Swaroop’s labour of love and we look forward to their reaction.”
Kamal Swaroop, who will be attending the film screening in Dubai, commented,
“For us, the journey of the film has just begun and we plan to showcase the film at film festivals around the world.”
Shot on 4K over a period of 44 days during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the documentary, inspired by Nobel Laureate Elias Canetti’s book, ‘Crowds and Power’, captures the excitement, the madness and the noise behind the high-octane poll battle in the holy city of Banaras, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency.
