New Delhi: The FTII student association has condemned NFDC’s decision to award The Kerala Story with the best director and best film award. Barsha Dasgupta, in a statement issued to the media, has said, ”The decision is not simply disappointing but dangerous.”Dasgupta said, “The state once again has made it clear it will reward propaganda disguised as cinema if it aligns with the majoritarian hate-filled agenda.
The Kerala story is not a film, it is a weapon: A falsified narrative aimed at vilifying the muslim community, demonising an entire state that has historically stood for communal harmony. education and resistance.”
Dasgupta continued, “Cinema is not neutral, it is a powerful instrument of influence when a government-endorsed body elevates a film that spreads misinformation and paranoia against minorities; it is not merely `recognising art’, it is legitimizing violence. It is scripting future lynchings, social exclusion, and political othering. It is telling a billion people: “This hate is acceptable. This is the story we choose to reward.”
The statement further stated, “We refuse to accept that our craft, the cinema we believe in and are training to make, should be reduced to a tool of state-sponsored communalism. We refuse to accept that Islamophobia is now award-worthy. And we refuse to be silent as the industry we hope to enter is being reshaped to reward lies, bigotry, and fascist ideology.”Dasgupta concluded, “The state must understand: giving awards to propaganda does not make it true. And we, as students and citizens, will not stop calling it what it is: incitement. Violence.”