Kolkata, Nov 11 (PTI) Actor-filmmaker and West Bengal minister Bratya Basu on Thursday said 'Dictionary', his last outing as a director, was selected for screening at the 51st International Film Festival of India, (IFFI), only to get rejected a day later owing to a "spelling error".

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He apprehended that the decision to drop his film from the IFFI list could be a "politically driven" one.

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Addressing a press meet, Basu said that he and the film's producer, Firdausal Hassan, were told about the selection of 'Dictionary' in the Indian panorama section of the festival on November 5 in separate mails, but a day later, the Information and Broadcasting ministry, in a release, had "surprisingly omitted the film from the list".

"In the first mail, the IFFI Directorate had given details of my accommodation for my Goa trip and congratulated me for the selection. In the second, the directorate said there was a discrepancy in the spelling of my name in two recommendation letters that they received – one sent by the Film Federation of India and the other by the producer.

"And that has led to the cancellation of my film's screening," the education minister explained.

Hasan, who was present at the meet, further said that the Film Federation of India, which had made the error, expressed regret and urged the IFFI to correct the spelling and reconsider its decision, but was told that the change was no longer possible and same be communicated to the filmmakers.

He said that another request to "rethink the decision" will be made to the IFFI.

Basu, on his part, claimed that some "political consideration" might have led to the omission of his film.

"Perhaps, some higher-ups suddenly got to know about my political identity after reports about 'Dictionary' selection were carried by media outlets," he stated.

The noted actor and playwright claimed that such omission, to his knowledge, was "unprecedented" in the history of IFFI.

"All I can say is 'Dictionary' has been appreciated and awarded in several international film festivals. The jury had selected the film going by its merit," Basu added.

'Dictionary', based on two stories by author Buddhadeb Guha, features Abir Chatterjee and Nusrat Jahan among others.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)