27 April,2023 03:45 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
(Pic courtesy: Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri/ Instagram)
Days after Bollywood actor Salman Khan took a dig at Filmfare Awards openly at a press conference in Mumbai, now the 'Kashmir Files' director, Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri has slammed the award show on Twitter and called it 'unethical' and 'anti-cinema awards'.
On Wednesday, the filmmaker took to Twitter and made an 'announcement' where he 'politely' explained why he doesn't want to be a part of one of Bollywood's most coveted award shows.
Vivek Agnihotri's much-talked-about directorial, 'The Kashmir Files', which starred Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Chinmay Mandlekar, Darshan Kumar, Pallavi Joshi among others, was reportedly nominated in seven categories for Filmfare Awards.
At his blatant best, Agnihotri 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. Here is why: According to Filmfare, other than the stars, nobody has a face."
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While the 'Tashkent Files' director called Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Sooraj Barjatya 'master directors', Vivek also took a dig at filmstars like Amitabh Bachchan, Alia Bhatt, Salman Khan, Kartik Aaryan etc, who according to him tend to hog all the limelight and bag all the credit from the filmmakers and directors and eventually, become the face of the movie. Vivek wrote, "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."
The director has also dropped the same note against Filmfare Awards on his official Instagram handle as well, take a look:
Touted as a 'fearless' filmmaker of Bollywood by the fans of his cinema and his social media followers, Mr Agnihotri further tweeted, "It's not that a filmmaker's dignity comes from Filmfare Awards but this humiliating system must end. Therefore, as my protest and dissent against a corrupt, unethical and sycophant establishment of Bollywood, I have decided to not accept such awards."
He also highlighted the fact that how technicians, writers and all of those who work behind the camera are often ignored by such a 'corrupt system', talking about the same, Vivek wrote, "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."
Extending his congratulations to all the nominees, he further wrote, "My congratulations to all those who win and more to those who do not. The brighter side is that I am not alone."
The 'Kashmir Files' director concluded his fiery tweet with popular lines of the legendary Indian poet Dushyant Kumar, in Hindi, Vivek wrote, "Slowly but steadily, a parallel Hindi film industry is emerging. Until then⦠Sirf hungama khada karna mera maksad nahin, meri koshish hai ki yeh surat badalni chahiye. Mere seene mein nahin toh tere seene mein sahi, ho kahin bhi aag, lekin aag jalni chahiye - Dushyant Kumar #HumDekhenge"