It is more than a month since the 65th National Film Awards were conferred on May 3, 2018. However, some of the winners are yet to receive their citations and medals. These are the 120-odd awardees who had skipped the ceremony as a mark of protest. It was during the rehearsals at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi that the winners learnt that President Ram Nath Kovind would only be presenting 11 awards, with then Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani and MoS Rajyavardhan Rathore presenting the remaining awards.
This move, a break from a 65-year-old tradition, left winners feeling hurt and slighted. Thus they had taken a decision to stay away from the presentation ceremony. Now, they are apparently paying for it…
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Twitter[/caption]
The award-winners who had skipped the event reveal that they are allegedly yet to receive their medals and citations. Their cash prizes, however, have already been credited to their accounts.
Filmmaker Praveen Morchhale, whose film Walking with the Wind had won multiple awards besides Best Film (Ladakhi), points out that they did not boycott the ceremony nor did they disrespect anyone. They simply chose to give the ceremony a miss, as they would have preferred the President handing over the awards to all winners instead of only to a chosen few.
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Praveen Morchhale, Walking With The Wind Director[/caption]
Apparently the 120-odd winners who have yet to receive their awards have been in touch with the ministry only to be unofficially informed by the clerical staff that a decision has yet to be taken as to whether the medal and citation should be couriered to them, whether they should collect it from the regional offices or have it picked up from Delhi.
The confusion deepens as there has apparently been no communication from the ministry via calls or emails since the ceremony on May 3.
Putting speculation to rest, an I&B Ministry official reveals that this is the first time that such a thing has happened at the National Awards. Adding that the government is not withholding the citations and medals, he points out that the winners will receive the same as soon as procedures are completed.
