Why the National Award winners felt let down?

Bagging the coveted National Film Award is arguably the greatest honour for any recipient in Indian cinema. However, a number of winners this year were not in a celebratory mood when it was announced that the Honourable President Ram Nath Kovind would only present 11 awards. 

On Wednesday, during the rehearsals at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi, it was announced that the rest of the awards would be conferred by Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Smriti Irani; Minister of State, I&B, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and I&B Secretary Narendra Kumar Sinha.

The decision didn’t go down well with many of the awardees, who were upset with the development. They wrote a letter to the Directorate of Film Festival, Office of the President of India and the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, expressing their disappointment. After Hrs spoke to the winners of the 65th National Film Awards and former recipients, who expressed their point of view about the emotional reaction of the awardees...

PRASAD OAK
DIRECTOR OF KACCHA LIMBU, BEST FEATURE FILM IN MARATHI

What happened was very wrong. It’s a 65-year-old history where the President of India gives away the National Awards. They can’t break the tradition like that. We weren’t given any intimation about it. We got to know about it only during the rehearsals and were taken aback. After all, this is a moment we all wait for — getting an award from the President! We wrote a letter and even gave options, saying we will all stand in a line and the President can give away the Award to us one by one since he is short on time. And, this would take only five-10 minutes.

SHASHAA TIRUPATI
BEST FILM PLAYBACK SINGER FOR VAAN VARUVAAN (KAATRU VELIYIDAI)

I have tremendous respect for the Award and the jury, but I was disappointed with the planning and the President’s unavailability to present the trophy. We were given word about receiving it from him, but the promise was not kept. We had called our families for the ceremony. When I went to pick up my mother, the look of disappointment on her face when I told her about this was heartbreaking. My father couldn’t make it from Vancouver, otherwise, he would have been more disappointed. The ceremony was planned in advance. We were sent a letter stating that the trophy will be given by the President, but were told at the rehearsals night that the plan has changed. I think it was unfair to the rest of winners, who weren’t getting the award from the President. I also wished I were a guy because clearly, the male playback singer was among those to get the award from the President.

PRAKRUTI MISHRA
SPECIAL MENTION FOR HELLO ARSI, WHICH IS ALSO THE BEST FEATURE FILM IN ODIA

All I can say is that when we got the letter, it said we will be receiving the award from the Honourable President of India. But what happened was unexpected! I don’t know how to react, this is my first National Award, so I am equally happy and honoured to receive it from whoever is authorised to give it. But, there are other dignitaries who have done great movies and are not getting the Award from the President. They are not really happy with it.

HANSAL MEHTA
BEST DIRECTION FOR SHAHID (2014)

I met a few of the winners who were there for the rehearsals. Although, they didn’t tell me anything, it must’ve been really disappointing for them to reach there and get to know that this has happened. It’s like you’re getting married and you’re told ‘kanyadaan padosi karega’. When I won the National Award, I took my entire family to the event. All the winners get their family members and many others to attend the event. When you get that Award from the President of India, it makes you feel that the years of hard work has been worthwhile. If the recipients would have been told beforehand, perhaps the disappointment would have been less. Because it’s still the National Award, which is the biggest award for any artiste in the film industry. To suddenly dilute the importance of such an award is sad.

RESHMI SEN
MOTHER OF RIDDHI SEN, BEST ACTOR, BENGALI FILM NAGAR KIRTAN

We are here in Delhi, and to be honest, we don’t have any reason or justification to boycott the awards. My son Riddhi has been adjudged the Best Actor of the Year and is being conferred the National Award. The team has selected a few awards, which will be given by the President, and my son is one of them, since it’s one of the key awards of the evening. We don’t have any reasons to complain, but we sympathise with others who are upset with the development. It’s true that getting the honour from The President Of India is a different feeling, but we should not forget that eventually, this is the highest award of excellence given to an artiste. The value of the award still remains the same. If our son didn’t get it from the President, we would have been disappointed, too, but we wouldn’t have declined or refused to take the award at any cost.

ASHWINI CHAUDHARY
WINNER OF GOLDEN LOTUS FOR BEST FIRST FILM OF A DIRECTOR FOR LAADO (2000)

The President giving away the awards is a tradition that has been going on for 64 years. So, it’s sad to hear that this year, the President has given away only 11 awards. The ceremony is only three hours long. Also, my question is why was this conveyed at the last minute, when the awardees went for the rehearsals. Seeing the news that some of the winners contemplated skipping the ceremony, I feel it will set a bad precedent. The argument that the certificates have all been signed by the President doesn’t convince because, by that logic, they can be sent by courier. The National Award ceremony is a big moment — to share the stage with the President of India — that’s the moment you work for. That’s a memory and if I don’t have it, it’s meaningless. The ceremony is a tradition and should not be broken. Perhaps the ceremony could have been scheduled at a better date.

As filmmakers, we provide entertainment to the world and revenue to the government via taxes. So, keeping these things in mind, the film industry deserves three hours just once in a year. 

Usually, the ceremony begins at 5.30 pm. But this time, everyone was told to be seated by 3.30 pm. According to protocol, the function can’t start until the head of state, in this case, the President, arrives. The ceremony could have started with him giving the 11 awards and leaving, after which the Ministry could have continued with the ceremony, giving away the other awards.

SHEKHAR KAPUR
(PRESIDENT OF JURY)

“Honestly, I am just the President of the jury at the National Award and my jurisdiction ends after declaring the awards.” He refused to comment any further and disconnected the call. We tried to contact him again but he chose to not respond to our calls and texts.