President Kovind shocking decision on National Film Awards

New Delhi, May 02: The 65th National Film Awards winners are disappointed that President Ram Nath Kovind will personally present the prizes to only 11 of the 140 winners when he meets them at a ceremony in the Capital on Thursday, said an official.

That's because the president will not be able to stay at Vigyan Bhavan, the venue of the award presentation, for the whole ceremony.

Information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani visited Vigyan Bhavan on Wednesday to meet some of the winners who were at the venue to ease their sense of disappointment, according to the official cited above.

"The fact that the President will be available at the awards function for one hour was communicated to the organizers weeks in advance. It has been the practice ever since the President took over that except for Republic Day or very important meetings, he will spend up to an hour at all other functions," Ashok Malik, press secretary to President Kovind, said.

"But the awardees were not happy and have conveyed this to the ministry," he said.

The National Film Awards have been an annual event since 1954. The awards are given in three sections – feature films, non-feature films and best writing on cinema.

As reported by various publications, this break in tradition has infuriated many of the winners, with several of them intending to boycott the ceremony. They clarified, however, that this doesn't mean that they will not be accepting the award, merely not attending the ceremony.