The 65th National Film Awards has landed in hot water after many film personalities have decided to boycott the award ceremony. The National Film awardees found out yesterday that President Ram Nath Kovind will be handing out the awards to only 11 recipients and the rest of the awards would be given by Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Minister of State, Information & Broadcasting, and Narendra Kumar Sinha, Secretary, Information & Broadcasting. Naturally, they were upset and after taking the matter up with the Ministry, 66 of them have boycotted the event.
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Out of the 141 winners who were supposed to get an award, 66 out of them signed a letter of protest addressed to the Directorate of Film Festivals. Many noted film personalities like playback singer Yesudas, director Jayaraj and Sairat director Nagraj Manjule who were in the chosen 11 have decided to boycott the event as they feel it is an insult to their hard work and diligence.
The filmmakers have expressed disappointment and deep hurt at the way the announcement was handled and said that they were looking forward to the ceremony with their family and friends to receive the country’s highest honour bestowed upon cinema. The signed letter states, “It is only a day before the ceremony that we have learnt through Mr Chaitanya Prasad that a large segment of the Awards will not be presented by the Hon'ble President of India. It feels like a breach of trust when an institution/ ceremony that abides by extreme protocol fails to inform us of such a vital aspect of the ceremony with a prior notice. It seems unfortunate that 65 years of tradition are being overturned in a jiffy.” The letter further states that the National Awards are more prestigious and important from other awards that the industry bestows and tried to urge the government 'to maintain the dignity and eminence of the event' without trying to resort to a ‘hierarchy at the event’.
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Many filmmakers expressed their disappointment at this announcement and could not help but voice their anguish at the treatment meted out to film fraternity.
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On the other hand, a statement was issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan stating that President Ram Nath Kovind attends all award functions for a maximum of one hour and this was conveyed to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry earlier. The statement was made after the filmmakers put in their written protest and decided to skip the ceremony altogether. Ashok Malik, press secretary to the President of India said, “President attends all award functions and convocations for a maximum of one hour. This has been the protocol since he took office. It was conveyed to Information and Broadcasting Ministry several weeks ago and the ministry knew this all along. Rashtrapati Bhavan is surprised by the 11th hour questions that have been raised.”
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The awards are being conferred today evening but it seems this year’s National Film Award winners will not have a winning smile on their faces.
