Anupam Kher slams filmmakers for returning National Award

The move by select filmmakers happened hours after three prominent alumni of the Film and Television Institute of Indiaannounced that they would return their National Awards to protest "an atmosphere of intolerance" in the country in the last few months.

The controversies over FTII row just don't seem to stop even after students have shut down the strike...

... In a series of tweets, the 60-year-old actor said a few of these filmmakers are anti-Modi and never wanted Narendra Modi to become the prime minister.

The list of filmmakers who have announced their decision to return awards in protest of brutal murder of Kannada writer MM Kalburgi and Dadri like incidents, are Dibakar Banerjee, Anand Patwardhan, Paresh Kamdar, Harshvardhan Kulkarni, Hari Nair, Rakesh Sharma, Indraneel Lahiri and Lipika Singh. "It was not a happy decision for me to take, so I was expecting it", Banerjee told reporters on the sidelines of "Movie Mela" at the ongoing 17th Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. Those emotions have always been exhausted.

Bhandarkar, a National Award winning filmmaker who's known for using his camera to pan on the dark side of society, shared on Twitter that returning an award is not only an insult to the honour but to one's craft as well. But when I am returning the award, I am returning only my contribution to it. Through this I want to draw attention of the people that I am saying something. "Dibakar didn't see his freedom being thwarted when he wasn't allowed to complete his first film?" About the silence from Bollywood on the issues, Banerjee said, "When engineering students protest, do we expect the companies that employ engineers to unite behind those students". "I don't think any government will have the sense of fantasy to call us anti-national", he added. "My Khakhi Chaddi and Green Shirt symbolize many things, I am proud of it" says Anupam. "India is the first and the only country where people don't refuse awards but return them after milking them to their advantage", Agnihotri posted.

However, FTII chairman Chauhan appealed filmmakers not to return their awards.