Teen Kanya: Theatre denies releasing the film criticised by Mamta Banerjee

Kolkata: Director Agnideb Chattopadhyay, whose Bengali movie 'Teen Kanya' was banned in state-run Star theatre for being 'anti-government', Sunday said the theatre has withdrawn its decision. But the theatre authorities rejected Chattopadhyay's claim.

"The distributors of my movie said that they have been informed by the Star authorities that the film ('Teen Kanya') will be screened from Sunday evening onwards. I am very happy at the turn of events," Chattopadhyay said.

The director claimed that he was informed about the decision by Hemendra Dave, a film distributor who supervises screening of movies at the Star theatre.

The film is said to bear a resemblance to the real-life Park Street case, in which an Anglo-Indian woman was raped.

Dave, however, rubbished the director's claim by saying the movie would not be screened as the Star auditorium was booked for other programmes.

"No, the film will not be screened here. I don't know why he made such a claim. There has been no talk on screening of 'Teen Kanya' at the Star (theatre)," Dave said.

"The movie is not being screened because of other bookings and not because it is anti-government. The theatre is booked for the eight-day Kolkata International Film Festival starting Nov 10 and some stage plays. So there is no chance of screening the movie," Dave added .

The film, a suspense thriller, was released Friday. But it was pulled out of the Star theatre Saturday after being branded anti-government.

The film is said to bear a resemblance to the real-life Park Street rape case, in which an Anglo-Indian woman was raped in a moving car in February.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee received severe criticism from all quarters after she initially dubbed the crime as 'fabricated'.

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