National anthem to be played before every show in IFFK

Thiruvananthapuram: Eminent Malayalam film maker and Chairman of Kerala state Chalachitra Academy Kamal Saturday said the national anthem would be played before screening of every movie during the upcoming International Film Festival of Kerala in view of the Supreme Court directive.

However, the Academy, the organiser of the annual movie gala, would seek legal opinion in getting relaxation in this regard as a number of movies would be screened in various categories daily during the week-long festival, he told reporters here.

"The Supreme Court directive is applicable to all. So the national anthem will be played. But we will think of asking for exemption. Because during the festival, films are screened before the same audience," Kamal said in a press meet.

Academy Vice Chairperson Bina Paul Venugopal said, "In the wake of the present verdict, we may have to go to the court and ask whether it is necessary to play the national anthem before every show during the festival."

The 21st edition of IFFK will get underway here from December 9-16.

Around 13,000 delegates have already registered for the much-awaited gala.

The apex court had recently directed that cinema halls across the country must play the national anthem before the screening of a film and people should stand up as a mark of respect.

The national flag should be shown on screen when the anthem is played, a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Amitava Roy had said while stressing that it is the duty of every citizen to show respect to the national anthem and the flag.

The court's directions came on a PIL by Shyam Narayan Chouksey, seeking directions that the national anthem be played in cinema halls across the country before a film begins and proper norms and protocol be fixed regarding its playing and singing at official functions and the programmes where constitutional dignitaries are present.