10 filmmakers back students, return National Award

Expressing solidarity with the students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and against growing intolerance in the country, filmmakers Dibakar Banerjee, Anand Patwardhan and eight others returned their National Awards on Wednesday.

Banerjee and other filmmakers said their decision to return the awards was taken in view of the apathy displayed by the government in addressing the students’ issues and the general environment of intolerance against debate.

“I am not here out of anger, outrage. Those emotions have long been exhausted. I am here to draw attention. Returning my very first National Award which I received for ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’ is not easy. It was my first film and for many my most loved,” Banerjee said. “If there is intolerance of debate, of questioning and usually intolerance of a students’ body wanting to have a better teaching environment and that intolerance manifests in apathy, then that is what we are protesting against,” he said.

Patwardhan said the government has encouraged “extreme right wings”. 

“I haven’t seen so many incidents happen at the same time. This is a sign of what is beginning to happen and that is why people are responding all over the country in different ways,” he said, referring to the instances of writers returning their Akademi awards.

The students called off their 139-day-old strike against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as the institute’s chairman on Wednesday, but said they would continue to seek his removal. Banerjee termed students’ decision to resume classes as pragmatic as they are merely being responsible towards their colleagues and juniors.

Others who have returned their awards are Nishtha Jain of ‘Gulabi Gang’ fame, Paresh Kamdar, Kriti Nakhwa, ‘Hunterrr’ director Harshvardhan Kulkarni, Hari Nair, Rakesh Sharma, Indraneel Lahiri and Lipika Singh Darai.