KTR appeals to Centre after 'C/O Kancharapalem' is disqualified from National Awards

'C/O Kancharapalem' was rejected on the grounds that the film’s producer is not an Indian national.
KTR appeals to Centre after 'C/O Kancharapalem' is disqualified from National Awards
KTR appeals to Centre after 'C/O Kancharapalem' is disqualified from National Awards
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Former minister and TRS working president KT Rama Rao on Saturday appealed to the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Arun Jaitley and Minister of State Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore to reconsider their decision against disqualifying Telugu film C/O Kancharapalem from the National Award nominations. The hit film released last year in September was well received by both critics and audience. However, it was rejected by the committee on grounds that the producer, Praveena Paruchuri was not an Indian national.

Responding to a tweet by Praveena, KT Rama Rao took to Twitter to write, "I appeal to Union I&B Minister Sri @arunjaitley Ji and MoS @Ra_THORe  Ji to kindly review the below appeal. National awards are a matter of pride for all filmmakers. An award cannot be denied for a #MadeInIndia product because of archaic rules that are redundant in today’s India" (sic).

Praveena Paruchuri is US citizen of Telugu origin. She is a cardiologist based in New York, and made her debut as producer and actor with C/O Kancharapalem.

On January 9, Praveena made the announcement about the film's disqualification on Twitter and apologized to Maha Venkatesh, director and writer of the film "for failing him."

Venkatesh replied that it was the "outdated rules" which was the reason for the film's rejection and also tagged the Directorate of Film Festivals asking them to change the rules.

"It’s not you @paruchurimd, it’s the outdated rules and regulations of our country. I don’t understand why an Indian film, made by an Indian director, in India, acted by Indians and for Indian audience is not eligible for Indian National Awards. @DFF_India time for change."

Many fans were equally upset with the National award jury's decision and expressed their outrage on social media.

The independent film was shortlisted for the New York Indian Film Festival before its release. Later, actor Rana Dagubbati presented the film at film festivals, and their production house, Suresh Productions released the film in India.

 

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