Now, 10 filmmakers return awards over FTII controversy

'The row over the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as the chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India turned on its head with 10 filmmakers, including senior documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan and Bollywood new wave director Dibakar Banerjee, announcing their decision to return national awards. The decision came on a day when the protesting students threw in the towel and offered to attend classes but under protest. The list of filmmakers who have announced their decision barring Patwardhan and Banerjee are Paresh Kamdar, Nishtha Jain, Kirti Nakhwa, Harshvardhan Kulkarni, Hari Nair, Rakesh Sharma, Indraneel Lahiri and Lipika Singh...

Speaking to the media, Banerjee said, "I am not here out of anger, outrage. Those emotions have long been exhausted. I am here to draw attention. Returning my very first National Award which I received for 'Khosla Ka Ghosla' is not easy. It was my first film and for many my most loved," Banerjee told a press conference here. "If there is intolerance of debate, of questioning and usually intolerance of a student body wanting to have a better teaching environment and that intolerance manifests in apathy, then that is what we are protesting against," he said. "I don't think any government will have the sense of fantasy to call us anti-national," he added...'