It is a matter of honour and immense pride for an actor or filmmaker to receive a National Award from the President of India. However, on Wednesday, during the rehearsals for the 65th National Film Awards at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi, a revolt took place. The awardees were upset when they discovered that only 11 awards will be presented by President Ram Nath Kovind and the rest would be handed over by Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Minister of State, Information & Broadcasting, and Narendra Kumar Sinha, Secretary, Information & Broadcasting.

A docket was provided to the awardees informing them about this change. The docket also stated that the President would arrive at the venue at 5.30 pm, after Irani, Rathore and Sinha had presented the bulk of the awards between 3.30 pm and 5.30 pm. After the ceremony, the recipients will get the opportunity of getting clicked with the President in groups of 45 each.

Unsurprisingly, most awardees threw a fit on this change of plan and were not happy that they will not be getting heir award from the President himself and many threatened to boycott the ceremony. The director of the Directorate of Film Festivals which organizes the awards tried to reason and pacify but eventually asked them to intimate Irani with their grievances. The National Awards, which was started in 1954 has always been given by the President and the unsettling change in the 64-year-old tradition was not agreeable to the winners. A source told a leading daily, “The last minute change in schedule was an insult which every winner unanimously opposed. Everyone’s upset and the mood is gloomy.”

Irani, reasoned with the awardees and informed them that President had allotted only an hour for the ceremony which led the organizers to dial in ministers to hand over some of the awards. The winners reasoned that the time allotted for speeches and photos could be cut down so that all the winners could be felicitated by the President himself. They also asked her to give away all the awards herself so that every award winner is at the same parity and no differentiation or demarcation happened. They also threatened to boycott the awards.

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Irani ended the meeting with the awardees by telling them that she had contacted the President’s office and is awaiting a reply. There has been no further communication from I&B ministry and it seems that the award will be given as per their wishes.

 THE 11 AWARDS TO BE PRESENTED BY THE PRESIDENT

♦ Dadasaheb Phalke Award: Vinod Khanna
♦ Best Actress: Sridevi, Mom
♦ Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration: Dhappa (Marathi)
♦ Best Book on Cinema: Matamgi Manipur – The First Manipuri Feature Film (English)
♦ Best Direction: Nagraj Manjule, Pavasacha Nibandha
♦ Best Jasari film: Sinjar
♦ Best Male Playback Singer: KJ Yesudas, “Poy Maranja Kalam” Viswasapoorvam Mansoor (Malayalam)
♦ Best Music Direction (Songs): AR Rahman, Kaatru Veliyidai (Tamil) + Best Music Direction (Background score): Mom
♦ Best Actor: Riddhi Sen, Nagarkirtan (Bengali)
♦ Best Direction: Jayaraj, Bhayanakam (Malayalam)
♦ Best Feature Film: Village Rockstars (Assamese) + Best Editing: Village Rockstars