Returned award to draw attention on FTII row: Dibakar Banerjee

Filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee says he returned his award so that the FTII issue will gain some attention of the people and government

New Delhi: Defending his stand on returning the National Award, noted filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee said that he has returned his award to draw the attention of the people and of the government on the FTII (Film and Television Institute of India) row.

"How are people who are not entirely qualified professionally to be in the governing body of the institute like this are being selected and nominated. This should not happen with a premiere education institute of this stature," the 46-year-old filmmaker said in an interview to ANI.

Banerjee said that the FTII row was an example of what may be happening in other education systems of the country as well.

Responding to the question on why he returned his award, the filmmaker said, "My returning of the award was an attempt to draw people's attention to the fact that a high standard of education was available only to a fortunate few. Let us not wipe away this stroke of luck that we have. Let us not compromise with education," he added.

The 'Titli' producer added the National Award is equally shared between the director and the producer, adding he had returned the medal and cheque he got.

Dibakar received the National award for his film 'Khosla Ka Ghosla' for Best Feature Film in Hindi and he returned it in protest against the ongoing Film and Television Institute of India.