Hyderabad, Aug. 9 -- It was Ashish Shelar, Maharashtra's minister for cultural affairs, who had announced that four Marathi movies would be screened at the Cannes Film Festival - Sthal, Snow Flower, Khalid Ka Shivaji, and Juna Furniture. That was on April 20, when he said 'June Furniture' had received a special slot. Now, all that, at least about 'Khalid ka Shivaji' has changed. Going by a "written complaint", his ministry has asked the Central Information and Broadcasting Ministry to put the movie on hold. That is on August 5.

The center of the film is about a fifth-grade student in Vidarbha who, because he is a Muslim, is referred to by his classmates as Afzal Khan instead of Khalid, his real name. This "confuses" him and "isolates" hi...