65th National Film Awards: 75 out of 137 awardees threaten to boycott ceremony

Meanwhile, National Award winning Marathi film director Prakash Oak termed the incident as insulting and expressed sorrow over the same.

 A fresh controversy has brewed up after it was announced that President Ram Nath Kovind will be presenting awards to only 11 out of 137 winners at the ceremony which is scheduled for 3 pm today. Recipients of the 65th National Film Awards expressed disappointment and threatened to boycott the award ceremony. In a letter issued by the recipients of the award, they termed the incident as the breach of trust as such an important piece of information was conveyed to them so late.

"It seems unfortunate that the 65 years of tradition are being overturned in a jiffy," the statement read.

"We do not intend to boycott the award but are not attending the ceremony to convey our discontent and are awaiting a more just solution," it added.

Meanwhile, National Award winning Marathi film director Prakash Oak termed the incident as insulting and expressed sorrow over the same.

Talking to ANI, Oak said, "We feel insulted, 75 awardees are threatening to boycott the award ceremony today."

As reported, the change in the plan was revealed during a rehearsal for the ceremony. As per tradition, the President of India hands out all the awards. But due to unavailability of time President Kovind will only be giving out 11 awards, while the remaining to be presented by I&B Minister, Smriti Irani.