Actors, musician return awards; artist steps down in solidarity with docs
Times of India | 7 September 2024
KOLKATA: Actors Sanjita Mukherjee, Supriyo Datta and Debapratim Dasgupta and musician Subhadeep B Guha joined the list of celebrities who returned their state awards as amark of protest against the RG Kar crime. Artist Sanatan Dinda resigned from Rajya Charukala Parshad.
“I was appointed as a member of the Parshad but declined to accept the honorarium for being its constituent,” Dinda told TOI.“I resigned to show my solidarity with the protesting doctors and the deplorable attempt by the police to conceal the truth. Are members of my artistic community silent as they are not directly affected by it?”
While Dasgupta returned his Best Screenwriter award he received from the Tele Academy in 2019, Mukherjee returned her Best Supporting Actress award from NatyaAkademi. Datta expressed his intent to return his Natya Akademi Best Character actor award of 2021. “I have returned my Sambhu Mitra award in protest against Kanchan Mullick’s comment. It isn’t fair to keep the award after this dig at artists. I also want justice for RG Kar,” said Guha.
Education minister Bratya Basu said one of the theatre personalities who returned the award was a Left nominee. “Yet, this administration conferred upon him the Natya Akademi award. Every individual possesses the right torelinquish their awards. They are entitled to exercise that privilege. I would ask if any untoward incident happens in the nation, should they exhibit a similar response towards the central govt?” Basu said.
But theatre personality Chandan Sen, who has returned his award, said, “I was in prison for 12 days in Congress days. I contested the polls in 2012 and was among the first to raise my voice about the Kamduni incident. I have participated in events that appeared to be unconstitutional or against humanity. But I tendered my resignation from all party posts as I realized I did not ha-ve enough time for theatre. But it was not accepted. Bratya’s comment reeks of arrogance when he says the state gave me the award despite me having been a Left nominee. Did the state do me a favour? This comment is offensive. I thought Bratya would know better than to drag my political affiliation in this context. Had I received any award from the Centre, I would have returned it if there was anyincident that distressed me.”
Sudipta Chakraborty, who returned her Special Film Award, told TOI Basu’s comment was insulting. “Is giving an award an act of mercy? How does political affiliation determine if someone deserves an award?” she said. “Awards are conferred by the govt, not a party. I fail to comprehend the hubris of members of the party in office trying to question agitators,” Dinda said.