Filmmaker Pradipta Bhattacharyya has said he left on the road an award he received at a programme where Union minister and BJP leader Anurag Thakur was present.
“I hate the BJP. I am ashamed of the award I have received.... I have left the award on the road,” the director said in a long Facebook post explaining the reasons for his decision.
Bhattacharyya had received the award in Kolkata on Saturday for his web show Birohi. He had written the Facebook post apparently when he was on his way back home after the programme.
Speaking to this newspaper on Wednesday, Bhattacharyya said he should have sent the award back to the organisers. “I was so disturbed at that point that I did not think it through. I don’t have the award any more. Otherwise, I would have couriered it to them,” he said.
The decision, multiple sources in Tollywood said, was significant as people belonging to the entertainment industry generally tried to be politically correct and steer clear of controversies.
Lauding Bhattacharyya’s decision, one of his friends and actor Amit Saha, who also received an award at the event, shared his Facebook post with a caption: “I could not, he could...”
A renowned Bengali actor, who did not wish to be named, said: “Who has the guts to stand up against the might of these political leaders? Especially in our industry. Pradipta is a fine mind and history will remember him as someone who stood up against the Fascists.”
Bhattacharyya said that though he was upset with several aspects of the award programme, he was primarily disappointed with the focus on Thakur, Union minister of information and broadcasting.
The filmmaker told this newspaper that in future he will be cautious while accepting invitations to award ceremonies as the list of invitees is important.
The director wrote in his Facebook post that he had reached the venue late and sat in the back row and that was why he wasn’t aware of the presence of Thakur and some other BJP leaders. Leaders of other political parties were also in attendance, he wrote.
Bhattacharyya referred to the “Goli Maaro…” controversy involving Thakur. “How can I forget that this is the person who had said” that? Bhattacharyya asked.
In January 2020, Thakur had led a BJP campaign rally chanting “Desh ke gaddaron ko….” The crowd responded: “Goli maaro saalon ko.”
Thakur was banned from campaigning by the Election Commission of India for 72 hours.
“I urge all people related to the cultural sphere of Bengal to be aware of the tricks of the BJP. I fear that if the saffron ecosystem is allowed to expand its base in the state, it will alter the very fabric of Bengal,” Bhattacharyya told this newspaper.
His Bakita Byaktigato won the 61st national award for the best feature film in Bengali in 2013. Among his other films is Rajlakshmi o Srikanta.
Thakur, who is also the sports and youth affairs minister, recently drew flak for his alleged indifference to the complaints that medal-winning women grapplers had lodged against BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Singh is also the chief of the Wrestling Federation of India.
The ministry’s alleged inaction and the Delhi police’s alleged delay in investigating the cases against Singh prompted several A-class Indian wrestlers to hit the streets in protest.
On June 7, Thakur met the protestors and convinced them to drop their agitation till June 15 promising them some action. A chargesheet was filed on June 15, but the wrestlers alleged that the charges against Singh were weakened.
