Dibakar Banerjee, Anand Patwardhan and Rakesh Sharma are among the better known names in the list of filmmakers who have returned their National Awards to protest the recent attacks on writers and minorities and the “process that is flattening out our beautiful landscape of diversity”. Questions have been raised about the credentials of the other filmmakers. Who are these people, what have they done to earn a media platform, and why should we care if they are giving away their hard-won trophies? Here’s what some of them have done. (Just don’t ask where they were in 1984.)
Paresh Kamdar Editor, director of Tunnu Ki Tina and Khargosh. Credits include Rasayatra (for which he won the National Award in 1994), Miss Lovely and Highway.
‘Rasayatra’, a documentary about Mallikarjun Mansur
Nishtha Jain Documentary filmmaker, credits include City of Photos, Lakshmi and Me, At My Doorstep and the multiple award-winning Gulabi Gang.
‘Gulabi Gang’
Hair Nair Cinematographer, credits include Swaham, Janmadinam, Theevram, Shutter.
‘Shutter’
Vikrant Pawar Filmmaker, won for his student project while studying at the Film and Television Institute of India.
Lipika Singh Darai Sound recordist, director of ‘Eka Gachha Eka Manisa Eka Samudra’
Pratik Vats Filmmaker, won for his student project while studying at the Film and Television Institute of India.
Harshvardhan Kulkarni and Kirti Nakhwa Director and editor, respectively, of Hunterrr and Lost and Found.
A scene from ‘Hunterrr’
Indraneel Lahiri Cinematographer, won for documentary Aamar Katha: Story of Binodini.
