Vivek Agnihotri, a director whose 2022 film The Kashmir Files was nominated for several awards at Filmfare, including Best Director, said on Thursday that he will not accept any of them. A few hours later, actor Gulshan Devaiah asked Vivek on Twitter why he had informed his WhatsApp contacts of his “polite refusal” to attend the award ceremony. On Thursday, the Filmfare Awards ceremony took place in Mumbai.
Vivek Agnihotri is questioned by Gulshan Devaiah on his Filmfare Award stance.
Vivek Agnihotri graciously declines to participate in the “immoral, anti-cinema” awards in response to a tweet Vivek made regarding a news piece. Discover the cause. Gulshan Devaiah acknowledged that he was “always happy” to get Vivek’s texts, but he questioned why he felt the need to make such a strong case against an awards ceremony.
On Thursday, Gulshan tweeted, “Hello excellent guy, no question… You WhatsApped your humble denial to your contact list and tweeted it. Fortunately, sir I got it too because I’m on your list. Many thanks (folded hands emoji)… I’m always happy to get your texts, but why? False, sir. You can Twitter whatever you want, after all, so why WhatsApp it to your contacts?
In a recent tweet, Gulshan Devaiah discusses Vivek Agnihotri’s WhatsApp message.
Vivek expressed his displeasure earlier on Thursday regarding the 68th Filmfare Awards’ Best Director nominees’ social media advertisements, which featured stars from the shortlisted movies rather than the filmmakers. The filmmaker stated that he would “humbly decline to be a part of these immoral and anti-cinema awards” in a statement that was posted on Twitter.
Along with Sanjay Leela Bhansali for Gangubai Kathiawadi, Anees Bazmee for Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Ayan Mukerji for Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva, Sooraj Barjatya for Altitude, and Harshvardhan Kulkarni for Badhaai Do, Vivek was nominated in the Best Director category. It was finished. Apart from the actors, no one has a face, claims Filmfare. None of us matter. Master filmmakers like Sanjay Bhansali or Sooraj Barjatya have no face in the sycophantic and unscrupulous world of Filmfare for this reason. Sooraj and Alia Bhatt resemble Sanjay Bhansali. “Like Mr. Bachchan, Anees Bazmee, and Karthik Aryan. Filmfare Awards do not in any way contribute to a filmmaker’s dignity, but this humiliating system must end. I have therefore opted to accept such accolades as a sign of my protest and dissent against a corrupt, unethical, and sycophantic establishment in Bollywood,” Vivek Agnihotri had tweeted.
“I refuse to be a part of any authoritarian and corrupt systems or awards that regard writers, directors, and other HODs and crew members of a film as lesser and/or servants to the stars,” he continued in his letter. All of you deserve my congratulations, and those who don’t even more so.
The Kashmir Files was nominated for awards in several other categories in addition to Best Director, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay, and Best Editing. The movie, which Vivek wrote and directed, portrays the purported flight of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir. At the Filmfare Awards, the movie went home empty-handed.