Malayalam film industry has alleged a "raw deal" from the selectors of the Indian Panorama for the 40th India International Film Festival of India 2009 (IFFI), to be held in Goa next month.

Only two Malayalam films figure in the Panorama, a section dedicated to the best of the off-beat as well as main-stream Indian cinema.

Leading filmmakers and artistes have already accused the selectors of ignoring the guidelines in selection, resulting in regional imbalance in the list.

"It was quite surprising that the list has been posted on a private website before it was formally announced in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the festival directorate," leading director B Unnikrishnan told PTI today.

Considering a petition on the issue by director Renjith, the Kerala High Court had two days back stayed the directorate of Film Festivals from officially publishing the list for the time being.

This is the first time in recent times that Malayalam cinema has been virtually ignored, claimed Unnikrishnan, also general secretary of Film Employees Federation of Kerala
(FEFKA), an umbrella organisation of artistes, directors and technicians.

"Our complaint is not about the numbers. We want the selectors to strictly follow the guidelines and norms of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the Festival Directorate. If they had done so, this sort of regional imbalance would have been avoided," Unnikrishnan said, adding that entire Malayalam filmdom, from directors and artistes to technicians were united on the issue.