On Thursday, Vivek Agnihotri took to Twitter and announced that he won’t be the part of ‘unethical and anti-cinema’ Filmfare Awards after The Kashmir Files got nominated against Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Brahmastra, Gangubai Kathiawadi, Badhaai Do and Uunchai.
He penned a note and revealed why he don’t want to be a part of it. He wrote, “ANNOUNCEMENT: FILMFARE AWARDS I learnt from media that #TheKashmirFiles is nominated in 7 categories for the 68th Filmfare Awards. But I politely refuse to be part of these unethical and anti-cinema awards.”
Telling the reasons, the director wrote, “according to Filmfare, other than the stars, nobody has a face. Nobody matters. That’s why, in the sycophant and unethical world of Filmfare, Master Directors like Sanjay Bhansali or Sooraj Barjatya have no faces. Sanjay Bhansali looks like Alia Bhatt, Sooraj like Mr. Bachchan and Annes Bazmi like Karthik Aryan. It’s not that a filmmaker’s dignity comes from Filmfare Awards but this humiliating system must end.”
He further mentioned, “Therefore, as my protest and dissent against a corrupt, unethical and sycophant establishment of Bollywood, I have decided to not accept such awards. I refuse to be part of any oppressive and corrupt system or awards which treats writers, directors and other HODs & crew members of a film inferior to and/or as slaves to stars. My congratulations to all those who win and more to those who do not. The brighter side is that I am not alone. Slowly but steadily, a parallel Hindi film industry is emerging. Until then…”
KRK reacted to his tweet, he wrote, “Bhai Sahab right decision. Brave decision. Salute to you.” Netizens also reacted to his decision, one of them wrote, “Also, Drishyam 2 not getting nominated says a lot of its merit! Akshay Khanna didn’t get an award for best supporting actor, again, politics! Brahmastra doesn’t even deserve to be here, still it is!!”
The second one said, “Filmfare is actually a family-fare award ceremony....Brahmastra and Gangubhai getting nominated reaffirms this notion of family-fare awards !!” The third one said, “First of all, many congratulations Vivek Ji and entire team of The Kashmir Files. I strongly believe that it is important to take a stand on issues that matter, even if it is not the popular or easy thing to do.I agree it is extremely pathetic to treat the artists. Hope @filmfare heeds to the progressive advise.”
Another person wrote, “Vivek if you sell them exclusive interview about your next movie they may even give you this award not a bad deal considering free promotion of upcoming movie.”
For the unversed, The Kashmir Files, released last year, the film turned out to be a blockbuster success as it earned over Rs 340 crore at the global box office becoming the second-highest-grossing Bollywood film of the year behind Brahmastra Part One: Shiva starring Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt.
READ | Vivek Agnihotri replies to Twitter user saying The Tashkent Files was better film than The Kashmir Files
Starring Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, and Pallavi Joshi among others, the film was declared tax-free in multiple states governed by the ruling party Bhartiya Janta Party and a few states even provided official vacations to government employees to go and watch the film.
