Filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee, 9 others return national awards even as FTII students call off 139-day protest

Mumbai: In solidarity with FTII students' protest against appointment of actor Gajendra Chauhan as its chairman and four others, 10 people of the film fraternity including FTII alumnies have decided to return their National award.

Prominent among them are filmmakers Dibakar Banerjee and Anant Patwardhan, who have decided to show solidarity with the FTII students.

On being asked the reason behind returning the award, Banerjee said, "As our past glories cited the reasons for many acts and glories today, I feel that glory must be spelt out.To me that glory was an education system that encouraged questioning. The FTII studemts are asking for the right gurus. Through the return of my award I want to appeal to the students teachers and parents of India to pay attention to what the students are saying."

Others who have decided to return the coveted award are Paresh Kamdar, Nishtha Jain, Kirti Nakhwa , Hari Nair, Rakesh Sharma, Indraneel lahiri, Likpika Singh Darai & Harshavardhan Kulkarni.

AAP leader Ashutosh also reacted to the decision supporting the stand of the award returnees but at the same time questioning the silence of the big wigs of Bollywood.

Earlier on Wednesday, the students, who have been protesting for 139 days, have decided to attend classes but said they will not engage in any talks with government officials.

The strike, which generated wide debate and gathered support from various quarters, forced the government to open a dialogue with the students by sending a delegation of Information and Broadcasting ministry officials. Although the two parties held as many as eight meetings, they could not arrive at a mutually agreeable solution.