A remark made by a National Award jury member about the quality of Bengali feature films has kicked up a storm in Tollywood, with filmmakers Srijit Mukherji and Indrasis Acharya firing back publicly on social media.

Aneesh Basu, the only jury member from Kolkata in the 11-member panel for feature films at the 71st National Film Awards, said the submissions from Bengal left the jury “disappointed”.

The panel this year was headed by filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker.

Basu, who won Best Audiography for Jhilli at the 69th National Awards, said in an interview, “Even while watching films in the final round, we found most repeating the same locations. The characters are confined within the same room and talk about the same relationship problems”.

“Cinema from Bengal was once a brand. But the quality of contemporary movies in submission left jury members disappointed. That is why not one Bengali feature film received any award in any category while competing with films from other languages,” he added.

The comment triggered strong reactions from sections of the Bengali film fraternity. Srijit Mukherji, whose Padatik — based on the life of Mrinal Sen — was among the films competing for the National Awards, posted a long rebuttal on social media, calling the criticism “hilarious blabbering”.

“Forget the production design, the sound design, the cinematography, the editing, the background score, the costume design, make up, research, the issues covered in the narrative and the performances, just to address a specific hilarious blabbering, there were 88 locations in Padatik, a film which has 12 International, South Asian and Indian film festival selections… And a film which was not even allowed to compete in the final round. So much so for 'disappointment' over 'quality',” Srijit wrote.

Director Indrasis Acharya, whose Niharika was among the Bengali films competing at the awards, said, “If someone gets a National award it gives him a free license to spread anything in the world in the name of Cinema. I am not against the winner but oppose the way Bengali films have been categorised… It might not win but stop spreading false words”.

Bengali feature films had a minimal presence in this year’s National Awards, with none making it to the competitive categories beyond the language-specific honour. Arjunn Dutta’s Deep Fridge was named the best Bengali film.