The Film Makers announced their decision during a press conference called in Mumbai where in they released copies of a letter written to the Prime Minister as well as the President of the country informing them of the decision to return the awards. “I can say this, that if FTII’s ethos is protected and strengthened, then not only will I think of taking back my award but will also hand out 10 other awards in joy”.
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Unable to force the government to scrap the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) chairman, agitating students on Wednesday unilaterally withdrew their 139-day-old strike but vowed to continue protests as ten eminent filmmakers returned their National Awards voicing solidarity with them and against growing intolerance in the country. The letter spoke out against the manner in which the Information and Broadcasting Ministry had appointed people “with a narrow vision” to head institutions. He also mentioned the murder of rationalists Govind Pansare, MM Kalburgi and the subsequent inaction adopted to track the fringe as another reason for returning his award. “Condoling deaths without interrogating the forces that scripted those murders reveals a tacit acceptance of the ugly forces distorting our country”, the letter said.
Vikrant Pawar of Maharashtra, Rakesh Shukla of Uttar Pradesh and Prateek Vats of Goa are the three alumni who will return their awards.
Dibakar Banerjee has made films such as Khosla Ka Ghosla (2006) and Oye Lucky! “I am here to draw attention”, said Banerjee. “To me, that glory was an education system that encouraged questioning, argument, debate and a give and take of ideas”, Banerjee added. He said he wanted to appeal to fair, unbiased and sane elements in the legislature, executive and judiciary. If we do not stand up and register our protest now we are in the danger of being a part of the process that is flattening out our lovely landscape of diversity. “If they do not believe in our struggle, we don’t want their award”. Patwardhan described the current environment as being “more risky than the Emergency”. We have to speak out today to tell people that we are heading in a wrong direction. The real issue the students were fighting was over absence of transparency in selecting their governing body.
The director said that he was “against the trivialisation” of the students protests by diverting attention from the core issues.
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“I haven’t seen so many incidents happen at the same time”.
