No one expects such discrimination at the National Awards: Riddhi Sen

We boarded the same flight — my parents, Kaushik and Reshmi Sen, director of Nagarkirtan Kaushik Ganguly, director of Mayurakshi Atanu Ghosh and the other awardees of the two teams — and reached Delhi on May 2. Everyone was happy and no one had any clue of what was in store till we reached Vigyan Bhavan for the rehearsals. And then, when we were told that the Hon’ble President Ram Nath Kovind will hand over only 11 awards, everyone was upset. No one expects such discrimination at the National Awards ceremony.

Around 55 awardees stayed away from the ceremony, but my team insisted that I receive the award from the President. It was a sad state of affairs and I missed my people at the ceremony. When I returned to the hotel, Kaushik kaku and Atanu kaku were waiting at the lobby. They said they had watched the ceremony and clapped for me. Nothing would have been possible without Kaushik kaku, who gave me this role of a transgender in

Nagarkirtan

and all that happened to the National Award winners was unforgivable. Curiously, this is the year when regional cinema was celebrated big at the National Awards. That’s what Shekhar Kapur, who headed the jury this year, told me at a dinner on May 2 and again before leaving Delhi on Friday afternoon. I learnt of a film called Sinjar made in Jeseri language that won two awards and then there was Village Rockstars, made on a budget of Rs 10 lakh and with a two-member unit, which made it big at the awards. It was a great learning experience even though I was sad for my people.
Having said that, years down the line, what has happened will become irrelevant and people will only remember the winners of the 65th National Film Awards. Kaushik Ganguly is the director of Nagarkirtan that won four National Awards and Atanu Ghosh is the maker of Mayurakshi, which was feted as the Best Bengali Film — no one can take that glory away from them.