Tonight’s the big night for the annual Filmfare Awards! The stars and makers are gearing-up to hopefully bring the black lady home. But as is the case for most events these days, even the 68th Filmfare Awards have been the center of controversy. ‘The Kashmir Files’ director Vivek Agnihotri has been up in arms against the way the show is being conducted. While his film received seven nominations in various categories, Agnihotri is upset that his picture was not used in the Best Director nomination. In a long post on his Twitter handle, Agnihotri wrote, “I learnt from media that ‘The Kashmir Files’ is nominated in seven 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. Nobody matters.” Coincidentally, ‘The Kashmir Files’ itself had courted controversy post release. We reproduce Agnihotri’s entire Tweet here verbatim for our readers:
“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. 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. 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.
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.
My congratulations to all those who win and more to those who do not.
The brighter side is that I am not alone. Slowly but steadily, a parallel Hindi film industry is emerging. Until then…”
