President Kovind won’t present all national film awards, 75 winners to skip event

Over 70 recipients of the 65th National Film Awards have reportedly decided to stay away from the function in New Delhi on Thursday to protest President Ram Nath Kovind’s inability to personally present the prizes to all the winners.

A letter written by the recipients to Chaitanya Prasad, additional director general of the Directorate of Film Festivals, specified that their move did not constitute a “boycott”, but was merely an expression of their disappointment over the President’s decision. Individual winners, however, did not shy away from using the phrase.

It was earlier announced that winners as he would not be able to stay at Vigyan Bhavan, the venue of the award presentation, for the entire duration of the ceremony. This declaration gave rise to considerable disappointment among the recipients, something that information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani tried to address with a visit to the venue during the rehearsal of the award ceremony on Wednesday. She was not entirely successful.

“We feel insulted. Around 75 awardees are threatening to boycott the award ceremony today,” confirmed National Award-winning Marathi film director Prakash Oak.

Some, including Bengali actor Riddhi Sen, decided to stay away from the event in solidarity with their colleagues even though they were slated to receive their awards from the President. Sen won the best actor award for his performance as a transgender in Kaushik Ganguly’s Nagar Kirtan.

A Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson had said the organisers were informed about this development well in advance. “The fact that the President will be available at the awards function for one hour was communicated weeks in advance. It has been the practice ever since the President took over that, except for Republic Day or very important meetings, he will spend up to an hour at all other functions,” Ashok Malik, press secretary to the President, said.

Information and broadcasting ministry sources, for their part, stated that the National Film Awards would be organised in two phases – the first set of awards will be conferred by Smriti Irani from 4 pm, and the second set by Kovind from 5.30 pm. The 11 awards presented by the President would include the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award for lifetime achievement, the award for the most film-friendly state, and a few others for feature and a non-feature films.

Many, including singer Shashaa Tirupati, were not happy with the President’s decision. “It’s like the thrill of it is gone now,” she told IANS in an interview. “I was so excited. My father was going to fly down from Vancouver. I am now thanking my stars that he didn’t.”

Tirupati believes that the National Awards and the President go hand-in-hand. “For 64 years, they have been given by the President. When you speak of the National Award, automatically people visualise the President handing over the award to the recipient,” she said.

The National Film Awards have been an annual event since 1954. The awards are given in three sections – feature films, non-feature films and best writing on cinema. The list of this year’s winners include two posthumous awardees, actor and MP Vinod Khanna who is getting the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, and actor Sridevi who has been chosen best actress for her role in the Hindi film Mom.

(With agency inputs)