FTII row: Dibakar Banerjee and other filmmakers return National Award

Filmmakers Dibakar Banerjee, Anand Patwardhan, Paresh Kamdar, Nishtha Jain, Kirti Nakhwa, Harshavardhan Kulkarni, Hari Nair, Rakesh Sharma, Indraneel Lahiri and Lipika Singh Darai have decided to return their National awards.

Dibakar Banerjee.

This comes close on the heels of the students of the Film and Television Institute (FTII) calling off their 136-day strike. The film folk announced their decision at a press conference held at the Press Club in Mumbai on Wednesday evening.

The statement that the filmmakers released…

The Government of India must urgently reveal its committment to protect the freedom of expression of each citizen.

We, the undersigned, stand alongside the writers who have returned the country's highest literary honour, and hereby return our National Awards.

As filmmakers, we stand firmly with the students of FTII and are determined not to let them shoulder the entire burden of the protests. They have mounted a historic struggle and we urge others within our fraternity to come forward and carry this protest forward.

Dibakar Banejee
Khosla Ka Ghosla (2007)
Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye (2009)

Anand Patwardhan
Bombay Our City (1984)

Paresh Kamdar
Rasyatra (1995)

Nishtha Jain
Gulaabi Gang (2014)

Kirti Nakhwa
Lost & Found (2008)

Harshavardhan Kulkarni
Lost & Found (2008)

Hari Nair
Sham's Vision (1997)

Rakesh Sharma
Final Solution (2006)

Indraneel Lahiri
Aamar Katha, Story of Binodhini (2014)

Lipika Singh Darai
Gaarud (2009)
Eka Gachha Eka Mainsha Eka Samudra (a tree a man a sea) (2012)
Kankee O Saapo (dragonfly and snake) (2013)