Artistes said they were disheartened and 'felt dejected rather than honoured'.
Rashtrapati
Bhawan in a statement expressed "surprise" at the "11th
hour questions" and said the president attends every award
ceremony for a maximum of one hour, which has been a protocol since
he took office, adding this was conveyed to the Information and
Broadcasting Ministry weeks ago.
"President
attends all award functions and convocations for a maximum of one
hour. This has been the protocol since he took office. It was
conveyed to Information and Broadcasting Ministry several weeks ago
and the ministry knew this all along. Rashtrapati Bhavan is surprised
by the 11th hour questions that have been raised," said Ashok
Malik, press secretary to the president.
The
award ceremony is organised in two phases this year, the Press
Information Bureau said. The first set of awards The first set of
awards will be conferred by Union Information and Broadcasting
Minister Smriti Irani and
the Minister of State Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore from 4 pm. The
second set will be presented by the president from 5.30 pm.
In
an open letter marked to the Office of the President and Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting, the artistes said they were informed
about the change in the schedule on Wednesday by Chaitanya Prasad,
additional director general of the Directorate of Film Festivals.
He
told them that "a large segment of the Awards will not be
presented" by the president whereas the invite given to them
states that they will receive the award from the president.
They
said they were disheartened and "felt dejected rather than
honoured" on being informed at the last minute that the
president will present only 11 awards.
"It
feels like a breach of trust when an institution/ceremony that abides
by extreme protocol fails to inform us of such a vital aspect of the
ceremony with a prior notice. It seems unfortunate that 65 years of
tradition are being overturned in a jiffy," read the letter,
signed by more than 60 filmmakers and artistes from across the
country.
The
signatories include noted singer K J Yesudas, named this year's best
playback singer, Bengali filmmaker Kaushik Ganguly, whose film
"Nagarkirtan" has been named the best Bengali film and best
supporting actor winner Fahadh Faasil.
"We
request that the dignity and eminence of this award is maintained and
that there is no display of hierarchy at the event. We are
disappointed to know that the Hon'ble President will be presenting
the Award to just 11 Awardees and not the remaining of about 120 of
us."
The
artistes said they had discussed the matter with Irani last evening
and were promised a reply.
"We
would like to bring to your notice that we discussed this matter with
the Hon'ble I&B Minister last evening and were promised a reply
but haven't heard back from anybody...
"In
the circumstances of not receiving a response to our grievance we are
left with no option but to be absent for the ceremony. We do not
intend to boycott the award but are not attending the ceremony to
convey our discontent and are awaiting a more just solution,"
they said in the letter.
Giving
an account of what happened, a filmmaker said on condition of
anonymity that they were informed about the change during the
rehearsal on Wednesday.
"At
the rehearsal yesterday, we were told that the President will give
only 11 of the awards as he has only one hour to spare for the
ceremony. It is a clear departure from the tradition,"
a National Award winner told PTI.
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