Apprehending that “warp and weft of our robust democracy might be coming apart in the current atmosphere”, 24 eminent filmmakers and writers — including Saeed Mirza, Kundan Shah and Arundhati Roy — on Thursday returned their national award in protest against “the increasing climate of intolerance in the country” and to protect their “precious right to freedom of speech”.
“In returning this award, we are not rejecting the recognition that the jury has bestowed on us. Nor are we belittling the honour given to us by the people of our country in the form of the national award. We are using the one possibility we have of making you pay attention to our plea, resolve the crisis at FTII, ensure that our precious right to Freedom of Speech is unambiguously protected,” the filmmakers stated in their letter addressed jointly to President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“We return our national awards, and hope that this symbolic gesture urges you to pay attention to our fears, that the warp and weft of our robust democracy might be coming apart in the current atmosphere,” the filmmakers stated.
Mirza is known for films like Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho! (1984), Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyoon Aata Hai (1980), Salim langde Pe Mat Ro (1989), while Shah has been recognised for comedy classic Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983). Together Mirza and Shah have also directed hit TV serial Nukkad.
Apart from Mirza and Shah, the film personalities and writers who returned their national award were: Virendra Saini, Arundhati Roy, Ranjan Palit, Tapan Bose, Shriprakash, Sanjay Kak, Pradip Krishen, Tarun Bhartiya, Amitabh Chakraborty, Madhusree Dutta, Anwar Jamal, Ajay Raina, Irene Dhar Malik, PM Satheesh, Satya Rai Nagpaul, Manoj lobo, Rafeeq Ellias, Sudheer Palsane, Vivek Sachidanand, Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti, Dr. Manoj Nitharwal and Abhimanyu Dange.
The announcement by 24 filmmakers, including 12 former students of FTII, and writers to return their national awards came eight days after a dozen filmmakers, including Anand Patwardhan, Dibakar Banerjee, returned their national awards to “protect freedom of expression of each citizen”, express their solidarity with the like-minded writers across the country and the students of the Film and Television Institute of India.
An FTII alumnus, Shah said that he giving up his national award which he received for cult film Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro in protest against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as the chairman of FTII. “This is the only national award I have for Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (JBDY) am I feel very sad to part with it. I owe this award to my alma mater FTII — there would’ve been no JBDY if I had not studied at FTII,” Shah said.
“Will my handing over a national award change things around. Frankly I don’t know. All I know I have raise voice against the current state of affairs in the country, Shah said.
Mirza, a former chairman of FTII, said the protest started by the students has become bigger and the movement against “intolerance, divisiveness and hate”.
Arundhati Roy, who returned her national award for best screen play “In which Annie Gives in Those Ones, 1988”, said in a statement circulated at the news conference in Mumbai: “I am very pleased to have found (from somewhere way back in the past) a national award that I can return because it allows me to be a part of a political movement initiated by writers, filmmakers and academics in the country who have risen up against a kind of ideological viciousness and an assault on our collective IQ that will tear us apart and bury us deep if we do not stand up now”.
Roy, who was not present at Mumbai’s news conference, said in her statement: I believe what artists and intellectuals are doing right now is unprecedented and does not have a historical parallel. It is a politics by other means. I am so proud to be part of it. And am so ashamed of what is going on in this country”.
Urging the media not to drag her into the Congress vs BJP debate, Roy said: “For the record, I turned down the Sahitya Academy award in 2005 when the Congress was in power. So please spare me of the old Congress vs BJP debate. It has gone way beyond that”.
Taking exception to the manner in which the ruling BJP functionaries “abused” the filmmakers who returned the national awards, the filmmakers stated in their joint statement: “We watched with disappointment how the ruling party’s leaders and supporters abused these filmmakers and belittled their gesture. This has been the consistent response by of the powers that be, towards the writers, academics, scientists, filmmakers, historians and artists who have expressed their dismay over the increasing climate of intolerance”.
“Rather than see our fellow filmmakers mocked, we have decided to stand with them and yet again bring public attention back to the manner in which the current Government is responding to dissent and debate,” the filmmakers stated, as they cited the instance of how the bureaucrats of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry stopped the screening of a film on caste politics and the issue of beef, at a recent film festival.
“The threat to the academic culture at the FTII and elsewhere is what has brought us together here. Equally, it is the horror at of people being attacked and killed for their beliefs, for the food they eat, for whom they love, for what caste they are born into, that makes it impossible for us to sit back as mere observers. We carry a sense of hurt and outrage at the events unfolding around us, they stated.