National Film Awards row: Technicians denied moment of glory, says Resul Pookutty

Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty expressed anger over the selective treatment that deprived the “smallest” of the people, the technicians their moment of glory. In a departure from established practice only 11 awardees out the 125 winners being conferred the National Film Awards by President Ram Nath Kovind.

No place for talent

Mr. Pookutty, in a scathing Facebook post, said the National Film Awards were the only place where talent was recognised and not the stardom but that changed this year. Citing the president’s speech that there are 2,00,000 people directly and many more indirectly working in the film industry, he said most of the people who abstained from the ceremony on Thursday consist of the majority of that 2,00,000. “When your good office had given time to hand over the National Award to only 11 members out of the 125, it is those smallest people in the whole spectrum [who] got sidelined! Their aspirations and ambition got crushed!” he noted.

“We felt bad because the people who got left out were those raw people, the technicians who are always called first in every award ceremony and edited out in every TV shows. Stars don’t care (for) us, business(es) don’t care (for) us, we thought our nation would care (for) us! But I felt the nation’s sentiment got left out in the choices that were made yesterday, for it's the technicians who always get the raw deal!” Mr. Pookutty wrote.