Guwahati: National Award-winning filmmaker Jahnu Barua on Tuesday said he has withdrawn his film Bhoga Khirikee (Broken Window), which was produced by Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra, from the upcoming Assam film awards in protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
Expressing anguish over the ongoing unrest across Assam and North East, the Padma Bhushan awardee said that the leaders are “disrobing the motherland” only because of power politics.
“I am very unhappy at the ongoing situation regarding the bill. This bill should not have happened. We believed the leadership, but they are not trying to understand us. In such a situation, I do not want to participate in such a programme,” Barua told PTI.
The 8th Assam State Film Awards and Film Festival, 2019 is scheduled to take place on December 26 and 27 in Guwahati.
Stating that he has always protested against the hugely controversial bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday midnight, the eminent film director said that there will be no existence of Assamese after 50-100 years if the CAB is implemented.
“The Assamese community is language centric. There are people from all religions and we want to remain like this. Language is everything for us. If we lose that, then what will happen? As an artist, I can clearly see what is going to happen,” he added. (PTI)
