Vivek Agnihotri spread news about his refusal to be a part of Filmfare Awards even via WhatsApp, Gulshan Devaiah tweets

Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri on Thursday announced that he will not accept any award from Filmfare, where his 2022 movie The Kashmir Files was nominated in various categories, including the best director. A few hours later, actor Gulshan Devaiah took to Twitter to ask Vivek why did he send his ‘polite refusal’ to attend the awards event to his contact list on WhatsApp. The Filmfare Awards were held in Mumbai on Thursday. Also read: Vivek Agnihotri refuses Filmfare Awards despite nods in 7 categories, says ‘I am not alone’

Responding to Vivek’s tweet about a news article which read, “Vivek Agnihotri politely refuses to be a part of ‘unethical, anti-cinema’ awards. Find out why…” Gulshan Devaiah said he was ‘always thrilled to receive’ Vivek’s text messages, but wanted to know what was the need to promote his stand against an awards show so much.

Gulshan tweeted on Thursday, “Dear good sir, small doubt…you tweeted your polite refusal and sent it to your contact list on WhatsApp. Fortunately sir… I’m on your list, so I too got it. Thank you (Folded hands emoji)… always thrilled to receive your texts but why? No, no sir… I mean… you please tweet anything as you please, but why send it to your contacts via WhatsApp?”

Earlier on Thursday, Vivek shared he was upset that the poster for best director nominees of the 68th Filmfare Awards, shared by the publication on social media, featured the stills of actors of the nominated movies, instead of the directors. In his statement shared on Twitter, the filmmaker said he will ‘politely refuse to be part of these unethical and anti-cinema awards’.

Vivek was nominated in the best director category alongside Sanjay Leela Bhansali for Gangubai Kathiawadi, Anees Bazmee for Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Ayan Mukerji for Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva, Sooraj Barjatya for Uunchai and Harshvardhan Kulkarni for Badhaai Do. “According to Filmfare, other than the stars, nobody has a face. Nobody matters. That’s why, in the sycophant and unethical world of Filmfare, master directors like Sanjay Bhansali or Sooraj Barjatya have no faces. Sanjay Bhansali looks like Alia Bhatt, Sooraj like Mr Bachchan and Anees Bazmi like Kartik Aaryan. It’s not that a filmmaker’s dignity comes from Filmfare Awards but this humiliating system must end. Therefore, as my protest and dissent against a corrupt, unethical and sycophant establishment of Bollywood, I have decided to not accept such awards,” Vivek Agnihotri had tweeted.

He further wrote, “I refuse to be part of any oppressive and corrupt system or awards which treats writers, directors and other HODs and crew members of a film inferior to and/or as slaves to stars. My congratulations to all those who win and more to those who do not…”

Besides best director, The Kashmir Files was also nominated in categories such as best film, best actor, best supporting actor, best screenplay and best editing. Written and directed by Vivek, the film depicts the alleged exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir. The film did not win any trophy at Filmfare Awards.