“Sins” earns Catholic wrath, bombs at the box–office

Mumbai – Mumbai High Court’s dismissal of two petitions calling for the ban of the controversial film, “Sins,” has resulted in nationwide protests staged by Christian leaders.

"Sins", according to Vinod Pande, director of the film, tells the story of a Catholic priest who slips and commits a crime of passion with a young girl half his age.

While Catholic organizations have raised strong protests, questioning the film's portrayal of the priest and maintaining the film would hurt their "religious sentiments," since it has overlooked Christian sensibilities in its bid to commercialize the theme, satellite channels have refused to show the "sexually explicit" promos of the film branding them fit for adult viewing.

Pande however, remain unfazed. “Why should I talk to them and get their creative nod? I am living in a democratic country,” he said. “They are doing great disservice to their own community by calling for a ban on something they haven't seen. I don't care if they have problems since I have got an official censor clearance, which gives me the right to release the film. But I do intend to take preventive steps to avoid any problems.”

"For heaven's sake, see my film and then decide your course of action," he said.

"It is not just priests," Pande clarified. "It is the tragedy of crimes of passion that people in high places – high temporal priests, reputed educationists, members of royalties – commit occasionally and have to pay heavily for," he said, adding that "Sins" was inspired by the real–life incident of a priest in Kerala.

"It's about forbidden love. There was no agenda whatsoever to hurt anyone," he said.

The director said that although media reports say the movie speaks about "forbidden love," he made it with "social responsibility" to show that such relations exist in the most unexpected quarters and the end result is painful.

"The film is about relationships, not sexuality. There may be nudity but there is also a lot of aesthetics involved in the portrayal," he said. “The film has been very sensitively made and I am well aware of my responsibilities as a filmmaker. I did not want the film to be misconstrued as cheap, which is one of the reasons I chose to make it in English.”

Pande is also upset with satellite channels for their blunt refusal to screen the film's promos.

"They were of the opinion that the promos were only fit for adult viewing and asked us to get a censor clearance. But even after getting the clearance, they refused to screen them. This, at a time when Channel V and MTV screen some of the most questionable videos around the clock," Pande argued.

The distributors Yashraj Films are meanwhile keeping silent over the whole issue.

"Yash–ji (Yash Chopra) has seen the film. So has everyone else in distribution before they bought the rights. They did not find anything objectionable about the film," he says.

What is causing him anxiety, though, is the politicization of the issue, with certain sections questioning his political links.

"I have no political links. Prior to this, I had done a serial called 'Reporter' which dealt with the politics and functioning of priests affiliated to temples. No one protested then," he says.

Before the release of the film, the National Minorities Commission chairman Tarlochan Singh wrote to the Information and Broadcasting Minister Jaipal Reddy to withhold the release of “Sins” and to examine it before its release.

In his statement, Singh said the NCM had received a complaint from the Archbishop Vincent M Concessao of Delhi about the film. He also informed the minister that he had received similar complaints from other minority communities regarding many other serials and films.

However, the government refused to take any action as the Censor Board of Film Certification and its appellate tribunal had already cleared the film with an "Adults Only" certificate.

On Feb. 24, a day prior to the scheduled release, Christians, mostly Catholics, demonstrated in Mumbai.

According to Fr. Francis D'Britto, spokesperson for Vasai diocese, the film could be used as "a destructive tool against Christianity." Christians have the "right to feel hurt and protest," he said.

“A film like this must be banned because it has a subject that will provoke negative emotions,” said Dolphy D’Souza, vice–president of the All India Catholic Union. “In Catholicism, a priest has the obligation of celibacy and challenging that can hurt sentiments.”

“Apart from portraying priesthood in poor light, sacred symbols like the Cross and the rosary are explicitly used in the movie, which looks more like pornography than an artistic creation,” he said.

Joseph Dias, general secretary of the Catholic Secular Forum, said the film "depicts the illicit sexual relations of a Keralite Catholic priest with a woman, portraying both the clergy and the Church in bad light."

“In the name of the eparchy of Kalyan, we would like to record our strong and serious objections to the release of this film and demand ban on its release,” said Bishop Mar Thomas Elavanal of the Syro–Malabar Kalyan diocese.

A Muslim group also joined the protest. Jamaat–e–Islami–Hind chief spokesperson Mohammad Aslam Ghazi said the Muslims shared the agony of Christians who were offended by the film. "No one has the right to tarnish the image of a religion in such a blatant manner," he said.

Meanwhile, according to news sources, the film has failed to draw crowds and has met with lukewarm response. A middle–aged movie–goer, who identified himself as a Catholic, said he came to see what was objectionable in the movie. "Nothing in the movie offends me, but I feel disappointed that the director has failed to understand the systems in the Church," he said. He said the director should have checked with Church authorities to correctly portray Catholic rituals and practices.

For example, the hero of the movie after having a sex act with the girl goes to confession hiding his identity. "He is a priest in the Church and knows as any Catholic that confession is invalid if the penitent hides his identity," he said.

The makers of the movie are "sure to lose their money," another man said arguing that the film drags. "It is a good story goofed up," said another moviegoer.

"It borders on an art film. There is something missing in it to be a box office hit," said another man noting that dialogues in the film are set in English, with jarring Malayalam songs and dialogues in the backdrop.

"Waste of money and time," declared a man in his mid–50s about the two–and–half hour show.